Abstract
Dragon's head plant is a vital source of antioxidants, antibacterials, and pain relief. This research studied the effect of different fertilizer sources on some characteristics of Dragon's head at different water-deficit levels. The experimental design was a split plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Experimental treatments included irrigation regimes at three levels (normal, mild, and severe water deficit) and different fertilizer sources (control, NPK, humic acid, vermicompost, and manure) conducted in two crop years. The results showed that severe water stress reduced the content of chlorophyll a (25.0%), chlorophyll b (29.24%), carotenoids (24.32%), number of seeds per plant (60.08%), biological yield (24.61%), nitrogen (18.29%), and potassium content (38.83%) compared to the normal condition.In contrast, proline (18.81%), carbohydrate (18.64%), phenol (22.16%), flavonoid (13.4%), DPPH (24.63%), and nitric acid radical scavenging (32.27%) increased with severe water stress compared with the normal condition. Application of vermicompost increased the content of chlorophyll a (92.45%), chlorophyll b (86.76%), carotenoids (85.311%), number of seeds per plant (87.81%), biological yield (93.23%), essential oil present (14.29%), phenol (50.32%), flavonoid (29.07%), DPPH (15.83%), nitric acid radical scavenging (42.47%), chain-breaking capacity (6.18%), nitrogen (19.49%), and potassium content (26.62%) over the control. The highest thousand kernel weight (32.5 g), seed yield (2343.6 kg ha-1), essential oil yield (2.76 kg ha-1), mucilage percentage (15.37%), and mucilage yield (337.8 kg ha-1) were recorded in the vermicompost under normal irrigation conditions. Additionally, vermicompost and animal manure treatment under mild stress conditions increased seed yield, essential oil yield, mucilage percentage, and mucilage yield significantly compared to the corresponding control.
Publisher
Horizon E-Publishing Group