RESPONSE OF ANISE PLANTS TO HUMIC ACID, AMINO ACIDS AND THIAMINE TREATMENTS

Afield experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of humic acid at 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 ml/l and a mixture of three amino acids (tryptophan, methionine and cysteine) and thiamine (vitamin B1) each at 100, 200, and 400 ppm on the vegetative growth, yield and oil content of anise plants. Treating anise plants with humic acid at 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 ml/l as a foliar spray was very effective on stimulating plant height, stem diameter, branch number/plant, herb dry weight, number of umbels/plant, weight of 1000 fruits, fruit yield per plant and per feddan, as well as, essential oil percentage and yield in comparison with untreated plants. In most cases, the most effective humic acid concentration was the highest one (10 ml/l) which gave the highest values of the aforementioned parameters. The application of the mixture of amino acids and thiamine each at 100, 200 and 400 ppm led to a significant increment of the vegetative growth traits, fruit yield and, essential oil % and yield compared to check treatment. In this regard, increasing the concentration of amino acids and vitamin B1 gradually increased the obtained values of the above-mentioned parameters. Also, spraying the mixture of the three amino acids was significantly more effective than thiamine treatments. In this concern, the highest concentration (400 ppm) of each material was the most effective, giving the best results compared to the other treatments including control. The interaction between the two examined factors i.e. humic acid and amino acids and vitamin B1 was, generally, significant on all parameters of vegetative growth, yield, oil content. The most effective treatment was the application of humic acid at 10 ml/l and amino acids mixture at 400 ppm, to improve the vegetative growth, fruits yield and oil yield of anise plants