Effect of Foliar Application of Organic Fertilizers Extracts on Agronomic Traits and Yield Quality and Quantity of Six Moldavian Balm Ecotypes

IntroductionToday, medicinal plants have a special place in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. Moldavian balm (Dracocephalum Moldavica L.) is an herbaceous annual plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family. In foliar application of plant nutrients the transfer rate of nutrients from the surface of the leaves to various organs of the plant has a great effect, particularly when leaves reach their maximum level. In this method, nutrients are directly aerobic and there is no problem of sediment accumulation in soil and its ability to use. Ecotype characteristics is another factor affecting the components of the medicinal plant. depends on s. This research was carried out in order to evaluate the importance of organic medicinal plants and the advantages of using organic fertilizers and their extracts to improve the quality of active ingredients, maintain soil and environmental contamination.Materials and MethodsThis research was carried out at the research farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, located at Nazlou campus, during two season of 2014 and 2015.The land preparation operations included plowing, leveling and cutting was performed in the fall of first year. Sowing was carried out on April 15th. First, the seeds of ecotypes were weighed. Then the seeds of each ecotype were divided equally into the plots to be planted. Seed sowing was done manually and uniformly in each plot. The dimensions of the plots were 2×2 meters. The blocks were spaced one and a half meters apart. The plots were then irrigated regularly. Weed control was carried out manually and mechanically during the growing season in two stages. The application of spraying treatments in vegetative growth stage was carried out in two stages in the first and fifth of June according to the experimental design with manual sprayer. Sampling was done at the end of flowering in August. Samples in each experimental plot with an area of one square meter were harvest. Essential oil was extracted from dry specimens. For this purpose, 40 g of each sample was weighed, and this amount was put into a 1000 ml bécher  after being crushed for the purpose of extraction of the essential oil with a Clevenger apparatus.Results and DiscussionThe results of combined analysis of variance showed that application of spraying treatments and ecotypes on total dry weight, 1000 seed weight, seed yield, biological yield, grain harvest index, yield and essence percentage were significant at 1% probability level (p-value < 0.01). The interaction of ecotype and spraying application on 1000 seed weight and grain harvest index were significant at 1% probability level (p-value < 0.05) and on yield and essence percentage were significant at 5% probability level (p-value < 0.05). The results showed that the highest amount of 1000 grain weight, grain harvest index, yield and essence percentage were 2.3 g, 76.76%, 9.42 kg ha-1 and 0.99%, respectively belonged to poultry manure spraying and Urmia ecotype. The highest total dry weight and seed yield belonged to Urmia ecotype (969.5 and 875 kg ha-1 respectively) and poultry manure spraying (892.5 and 756.7 kg ha-1, respectively) were obtained. Finally, according to the results of this research, application of poultry manure spraying and ecotype of Urmia in Urmia region and cultivation of native ecotypes in other regions is recommended.ConclusionsThe results of this study showed that foliar application of organic fertilizer extracts has significant effects on studied traits. Therefore, application of organic fertilizers can be a suitable alternative for chemical fertilizers and is recommended. Considering the significant importance of ecotypes on the studied traits, choosing the suitable ecotype for each region is economically feasible.