Influence of trichoderma harzianum and glomus mycorrhiza on biomass and essential oil yield of organic ocimum basilicum cultivation

Abstract

The growing interest in dealing with the cultivation of aromatic – medicinal plants requires the study of factors related to the production process, which includes the development of plants in field, as well as their processing and the receipt of essential oils. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two organic formulations, Trichoderma harzianum (T22), and Glomus mycorrhiza (G), in the cultivation of seedlings of Ocimum basilicum variety "Genovese" fresh and dry weight, as well as essential oil content and its quality characteristics. For the purposes of the study a field experiment was conducted in 2018 and 2019, using a factorial experimental design, with two factors: a) control, b) Trichoderma harzianum (T22) and c) Mycorizas Glomus (G) under four replicates. There was found statistically significantly difference between the two harvests occurred in each year on fresh and dry weight while no significant difference was recorded through the tested treatments. Furthermore, there was recorded a decrease in the essential oil yield between the cultivating years (approximately 14%), and also between annual cuts. Finally, the most remarkable finding was that although the different treatments did not show significant differences in the quantitative characteristics of sweet basil in the case of quality characteristics with mycorrhiza treatments essential oil having 40 identified ingredients instead of 21 that identified in control. Therefore, the use of these organic formulations is suggested to be used only in case of essential oil production where a predetermined quality of essential oil will be known. © 2020, University of Montenegro. All rights reserved.