Yield and physiological response of Perilla (Perilla frutescens) under different soil fertility treatments

Abstract

Medicinal plants are one of the main natural resources of Iran from ancient times. Perilla is one of the most important medicinal plants of the mint family Lamiaceae, since there is no study about adaptability of Perilla in Iran climate conditions and different fertilizer systems, this experiment was conducted in two experimental sites. The experiment was conducted as split-plot factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at two experimental regions. The main factor was three chemical fertilizer levels (control, 50, 100, 200 kg/ha) and subplots were different kinds of organic fertilizer (control, humic acid, and compost application) and inoculation with Piriform osporaindica (inoculation and without). Among levels of chemical treatments, 50 and 100 kg/ha lead to a better result. Also, humic acid allows to achieve the highest amount of measured traits between different treatments of organic fertilizer. The highest plant yield (147.2 g/m2) and rosmarinic acid yield per area (3.432 g/m2) was achieved in 100 kg/ha at chemical fertilizer with humic acid and biological fertilizer application and the lowest plant yield (89.86 g/m2) and rosmarinic acid yield per area (1.253 g/m2) was observed in control. Also, the highest stomatal conductance was obtained with application of compost fertilizer (67.67 mmol H2O m-2s-1). Integrated application of the studied fertilizers showed the more positive effect on yield and quality of Perilla than individual application of those fertilizers.