Prof. Anwar Osman Gomaa Hassan :: Publications:

Two field trials were carried out during 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 seasons at the Experimental Farm and in the Laboratory of Horticulture Department, Fac. of Agric., Benha Univ., to study the effect of chemical, organic and bio-fertilizer on vegetative growth, seed yield, essential oil and its main components as well as chemical constituents of lovage plants. Treatments were; control (without chemical and organic fertilizers), full organic fertilization with compost (30 m3/fed.), full chemical fertilization (200 kg/fed. ammonium nitrate + 300 kg/fed. calcium super phosphate + 100 kg/fed. potassium sulphate), half organic + half chemical fertlization and full organic + half chemical fertlization all combined with or without bio-fertilizer (a mixture of nitrobein + phosphorein) at applications of zero, low rate (500g/fed.) and high rate(1000g/fed.). The most important results can be summarized as follows: Both rates of bio-fertilizer (low & high) significantly succeeded in enhancing all the studied traites of lovage plant i.e., plant height, stem diameter number of branches, fresh and dry weights of branches, number, fresh and dry weights of leaves, number of umbels, seed yield per plant, seeds oil percentage, oil yield per plant , GLC analysis for oil components, total chlorophylls (a&b), carotenoides, total carbohydrates, N, P, and K, especially with the high rate. Additionally, all the studied treatments of chemical and organic fertilizers improved all the studied traites of lovage plants when compared with untreated plants (control) in both seasons. However, the treatment of full organic + half chemical fertilizer statistically produced the highest values of the most studied parameters as compared with the full dose of chemical fertilizer treatment. GLC analyses for oil components revealed the presence each of α- Pinene, Caryophyllene, Limonene, Eugenol, Carvacrol and Sesquiterpenes in the volatile oil of lovage seeds and exhibited that all the tested treatments succeeded in increasing the main component of the volatile oil (α- Pinene) especially in plants fertilized with half chemical fertilizer +full organic fertilizer enriched with bio-fertilizer at the high rate. Generally, bio-fertilizer with organic fertilizer can minimize chemical NPK fertilizers to half of the used dose, so decreases the environmental pollution, saves the high cost of chemical fertilization and produces high essential oil quality. Conclusively, it is preferable to fertilizer lovage plants with full organic (compost) +half chemical fertlization combined with bio-fertilizer at the high rate (1000g/fed.) of nitrobein + phosphorein to achieve the best results regarding vegetative growth, seed yield, seed essential oil % and chemical composition of lovage plant.