Response of Some Agronomical and Physiological Traits of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss., under Irrigation and Dryland Farming System in Northern East of Iran

Abstract

The <em>Dracocephalum kotschyi </em>Boiss.is a wild-growing flowering plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family and has been used as a medicinal herb for rheumatoid diseases, headaches, congestion, stomach disorders, liver treatment. In order to study the effects of dryland farming system on some agronomical and physiological traits of <em>D. kotschyi,</em> two separate experiments were conducted in three locations of, Mashad (Golmakan station), Quchan (5km in the northeast of city) and Bojnord (Sisab station) under normal irrigation and dryland farming systems in 2018. The collected data were combined analysis over three locations and mean comparisons were made using Tukey method. The results showed significant effects of locations for all of the traits except carbohydrate contents. Effect of farming system was also significant for all traits. Farming system by location interaction effects were significant for aerial fresh and dry weigh, 1000 seeds weight, proline, DPPH, flavonoid, protein<em>, </em>chlorophyll a, carotenoid, nitrogen and potassium. Result showed the location of Quchan had significantly higher mean values for many of traits followed by Mashad. In comparisons between two method of cultivations, the lower and higher values of plant height (20.6 vs. 25.3 cm), main branch (13.1 vs. 14.9 per plant), leaf area (38.9 vs. 48.3 mm²), flower number (14.6 vs. 23.1 per plant), fresh weight (295 vs. 888 g/plant), dry weight (80 vs. 244 g/plant), 1000 seeds weight (0.27 vs. 0.35 g), Protein (9.74 vs. 11.06%)<em>, </em>chlorophyll a (7.47 vs. 8.19 mg g^-1FW), carotenoid (0.08 vs. 0.11 mg g^-1FW), nitrogen (1.43 vs. 1.77%) and phosphorus (13.89 vs. 20.79 ppm) were obtained in dryland and irrigation farming, respectively. In contrast, the higher and lower values of internode length (4.11 vs. 3.71 cm), proline (1.44 vs. 0.77 mg g^-1FW), DPPH (0.39 vs. 0.19 mg g^-1FW), phenol (0.83 vs. 0.67 mg g^-1FW), flavonoid (0.60 vs. 0.47 mg g^-1FW), carbohydrate (8.2 vs. 6.2 mg g^-1FW), and potassium (4.2 vs. 3.7%) were obtained in dryland farming system.