The effect of organic and biological fertilizers on essential oil content of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (Sweet Fennel)

ABSTRACT :In order to evaluate the effect of different biological and organic fertilizers on essential oil content of sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill), an experiment was conducted at Research field of Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrood University of Technology in 2010. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design with 11 treatments and three replications. The experimental treatments were urea fertilizer (N), Glomus mosseae (M1), Glomus intraradiceae (M2), cow manure (F), M1+M2, N+M1, N+M2, F+M1, F+M2, F+N and control (C). There were no significant differences between different treatments in terms of seed essential oil percentage but there were significant differences between different treatments on seed essential oil yield. Results showed that the highest and the lowest percentage of essential oil contents were obtained in control (1.85%) and M1+ M2 (1.25%) treatments. The highest essential oil yield (24.6 l/ha) were obtained in cow manure treatment. Based on GC\MS analysis the main components of essential oil were Anethole, , Limonene and Estragole. The highest Anethole (81.3%) and the lowest (8.532%), Estragole (3.05%) and Limonene (3.231%) in essential oil content were obtained in M2 treatment.