Effect of Environment and Hoagland Solution on Vegetative, Reproductive traits and Mucilage content of Italian Basil (Ocimum basilicum var. Genovese)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Horticultural Science and Landscape Architecture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 Department of Horticultural Science and Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Mashhad, Iran

3 Natural Products and Medicinal Plants Research Center, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran

Abstract

The cultivation of medicinal plants is expanding worldwide, with many species playing a vital role in the pharmaceutical industry. Italian basil (Ocimum basilicum L. var. Genovese) is an annual aromatic plant from the Lamiaceae family. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Hoagland nutrient solution on vegetative and reproductive traits of Italian basil. Two levels of Hoagland solution (50% and 100%) and two growing environments (open field and greenhouse conditions) were tested in separate factorial experiments arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications (two plants per replication). Results indicated that the open field environment combined with 50% Hoagland solution significantly enhanced vegetative growth and yield of Italian basil. Specifically, branch number and leaf count per plant (10.33 and 45.5 respectively), plant height and internode length (25.67 cm and 3.17 cm), fresh and dry leaf weight (15.3 g and 5.38 g), fresh and dry stem weight (8.06 g and 6.7 g), fresh and dry aerial biomass (32.91 g and 18.64 g), fresh and dry root weight (21.48 g and 6.32 g), aerial-to-root DW ratio (2.96), total fresh and dry biomass (54.39 g and 24.96 g), and leaf-to-stem and total plant weight ratios (0.8 and 0.21) were all significantly affected at P ≤ 0.01. Photosynthetic pigments including chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoids were significantly influenced, with values of 3.228, 0.622, 3.85, and 0.187 mg/g, respectively. Reproductive traits such as fresh and dry inflorescence weight (9.47 g and 7.228 g), number of inflorescences per plant (27), 1000-seed weight (1.6 g), seed yield per plant (2.03 g), and seed number per plant (1356.5) were also significantly enhanced (P ≤ 0.01). Overall, the field-grown plants treated with 50% Hoagland solution exhibited the highest positive effect on most vegetative and reproductive traits.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Medicinal plants and By-products
Volume 16, Issue 1
January and February 2027
Pages 59-69

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