Effect of Different Rates of Zeolite and Nitrogen Fertilizer on Yield and Harvest Index of Flower, Grain, Essential oil and Seed Oil of Calendula officinalis L.

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

In order to evaluate the effect of zeolite (0, 10, 20 and 30 t/ha) and nitrogen fertilizer (0, 80, 160 and 240 kg/ha) on growth and yield of Calendula officinalis L., a factorial experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Research Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University in 2010. Results showed the significant effect of nitrogen on the yield and harvest index of essential oil, and significant interaction effect between zeolite and nitrogen on the yield of flower, grain and seed oil, the yield of aerial part (leaf and stem), biological yield for flower harvest (flower, leaf and stem), biological yield for grain harvest (grain, leaf and stem), total biological yield (flower, grain, leaf and stem), harvest index of flower, grain and seed oil. The lowest yield of total biomass (111.04 kg/ha) and yield of flower (419.9 kg/ha) belonged to control treatment. The minimum yield of grain (1888.3 kg/ha) and seed oil (276.2 kg/ha) were obtained from 20 t/ha zeolite and 0 kg/ha nitrogen applications. The maximum yield of flower (900.3 kg/ha) and total biomass (26955 kg/ha) were obtained from 0t/ha zeolite and 80 kg/ha nitrogen. While, the highest yield of grain (3577.3 kg/ha) and seed oil (723.1 kg/ha) belonged to 20 t/ha zeolite with 80 and 240 kg/ha nitrogen, respectively. The highest yield (6.26 kg/ha) and harvest index (0.10083 %) of essential oil were obtained from 80 kg/ha of nitrogen application.

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