Effects of organic fertilizers of compost and vermicompost on qualitative and quantitative triats of Lemon verbena

Abstract

Introduction: The use of vermicompost and compost as an alternative of chemical fertilizers for plant nutrient and improvement soil conditions is one of the principles of sustainable agriculture, environmental protection and food safety. Objective: This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of different amounts of municipal solid waste compost and vermicompost on quantitative and qualitative traits of lemon verbena. Methods: Greenhouse experiment was conducted as factorial based on randomized complete blocks design and with three replications. In this study three the ratio of the volume of municipal solid waste compost and vermicompost with loamy soil containing 0: 100, 90:10 and 80:20 were studied. Results: Effects of municipal compost and vermicompost on all traits were significant (P<0.05) and caused increasing dry weight, plant height, number of leaves, chlorophyll index, photosynthesis, essential oil percentage and oil components. So that level of 20% for each fertilizer had the greatest impact on the studied traits than the control. The interaction effect of compost and vermicompost were significant on dry weight and essential oil percentage (P<0.01), photosynthesis, limonene and linalool percentage of essential oils (p<0.05), But had no significant effect on plant height, number of leaves, chlorophyll index and percentage of essential oil linalool. Conclusion: The effect of vermicompost was better than compost in all studied traits. Combined use of compost and vermicompost improved qualitative and quantitative traits of lemon verbena compared to individual consumption. But in the treatment of 20% vermicompost with 20% compost was obtained best result. Therefore fertilizers complete each otherchr('39')s effects.

Keywords

• essential oil
• limonene
• linalool
• photosynthesis
• <i>lemon verbena</i>
• vermicompost
• compost