EFFECTS OF FERTILIZER AND PLANT DENSITY ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF ANISE (PIMPINELLA ANISUM L.)

In order to understand the effect of organic fertilizer on yield of anise, an experiment was conducted in the form of split-plot in randomized complete block design with three replications in Mashhad, Khorasan Agriculture and Natural Resource Research Center. Four treatments of fertilization: the control, vermicompost – 5 t/ha, cow manure – 25 t/ha, and mineral fertilizer (NPK) – 60 kg/ha (the same rate of each nutrient) were applied as the main factor. The second factor was plant density, applied at three levels: 17, 25, and 50 plants/m2. The results showed a significant effect of fertilizer on the number of umbels per plant, number of umbellets per umbel and canopy cover. Plant density had a significant effect on grain yield, biological yield, the number of lateral branches, essential oil percentage and yield of essential oil. Seed and essential oil yield were the highest in the case of the application of vermicompost and plant densities of 50 and 25 plants/m2 respectively.