Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
59°25' E at an average altitude of 985 m above sea level in 2011-2012.
According to De Martonne climate classification, the areas of this province
are located in arid or semi-arid climate. While, according to Emberger cli-
mate classification, most of areas of this province are located in cold-dry
climate. In order to determine the physical and chemical properties of soil,
soil sampling was done before planting. The results of soil analysis showed
that the electrical conductivity of the saturation extract was 1.62 dS m
-1
and
pH value was 8. Seed planting was done in 36 plots with dimensions 3 m ×
2 m with row spacing of 50 cm and seed planting depth of 3 cm on 21 April
2012.
The experiment was conducted by using the split-plot design which
involved two experimental factors. The main factor was fertilization, ap-
plied in four treatments: control, vermicompost - 5 t/ha, cow manure -
25 t/ha, and full chemical fertilizer (NPK) - 60 kg/ha (with the same rate
of each nutrient). The second factor was plant density, applied at three
levels: 17, 25, and 50 plants/m
2
. Levels of fertilizers and plant densities
with the whole plots were arranged in a randomized complete block de-
sign. The vermicompost used in this study was produced by the activity
of
Eisenia foetida
worm on manure. Irrigation was performed weekly.
Thinning and weed control were done at growth stages of 4-6 leaves
in order to get the desirable plant density and the best use of space and
nutrient requirements.
Plants were harvested when leaf color changed to yellow. Different
plant morphological characters as the number of umbels per plant, number
of umbellets per umbel, plant height, internode distance, the number of
lateral branches, grain number, grain weight and yield components were
measured from fi ve randomly selected plants. A ruler was applied to mea-
sure the length and the width of the canopy. Canopy area (S) was calcu-
lated by using the following formula: S = 3.14 × (x + y)/2, where: x is
length of canopy, and y is canopy width.
The seed essential oil was measured by Clevenger hydro-distillation
method. Calculations and statistical analysis were done by using SAS
statistical software. Duncan's multiple range tests were used for means
comparisons.
