Evaluation Effects of Chemical, Organic and Biologic Fertilizers on Chamomile (Matricaria chamomile L.) Yield

Abstract

Although herbs have been important and attractive since long time ago, they have gained such popularity due to the adverse side effects of chemical medicines that nowadays their cultivation has become among significant agricultural programs of most developed countries. In order to study the effects of chemical, organic, and biological fertilizers on Medicinal Chamomile yield and its components, a split plot experiment laid out in a randomized complete blocks design was conducted with three replications. The experimental fertilizing factors were applied as follows: chemical N as the main factor at four different levels (0, 50, 100, and 200 kg.ha^-1), manure as the secondary factor at two different levels (0 and 30 kg.ha^-1), and Nitroxin, an organic fertilizer, as the subordinate factor at two levels (not inoculating versus inoculating Chamomile seeds). Results revealed that chemical N and organic fertilizers significantly affected plant height, number of branches per plant, number of seeds per capitols, seed yield, 1000 seeds yield, and Nitrogen use efficiency, but there were no significant effects on root length and number of capitols per plant. The number of capitols per plant was not affected by any of the studied factors, but root length was only affected by biological fertilizer. Compared to the control, seed yield was increased 53%, 53%, and 59% respectively. Among these three experimented fertilizers, the biological Nitroxin was the most influential one on the above mentioned traits.