Effect of Rice Bran Biochar and Deficit Irrigation on Morphological Characteristics and Water Use Efficiency in Peppermint Plant

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the most important environmental stresses that lead to problems in agricultural production. In order to investigate the effect of rice bran biochar on morphological characteristics of peppermint plant, an experiment conducted in greenhouse conditions in factorial conditions and in a completely randomized design with 3 levels of biochar (0, 3 and 6 t/ha) and 4 irrigation levels (100% full irrigation (Without stress), 60, 80 and 120% full irrigation) with 4 replications in November 2020. The results showed that due to the significant effect of interaction of treatments on leaf fresh weight, the highest fresh weight was related to the application level of 3 t/ha of biochar and the water level of 120% full irrigation in the amount of 23.93 g.pot-1. Also, the lowest fresh weight was observed at the level of 3 t/ha of biochar and the water level of 60% full irrigation at the rate of 13.03 gr in pots while there was no significant difference with the control treatment. Also, application of 6 t/ha of biochar compared to the control treatment caused a significant increase in dry weight, height, water use and water use efficiency by 28.13, 10.73, 10.69 and 44.73%, respectively. Also, at the level of 60% of full irrigation, in comparison with the control treatment, dry weight, height, water use and water use efficiency of the plant reduced significantly by 39.89, 33.34, 14.69 and 29.64 respectively.