Elicitation Promoability with Gamma Irradiation, Chitosan and Yeast to Perform Sustainable and Inclusive Development for Marjoram under Organic Agriculture

Abstract

Sweet marjoram (Majorana hortensis) is an important aromatic herbal plant that has long been used and well managed in the traditional and general medical, pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic, and perfume industries. Thus, the increase in its productivity appears to be of great value since there is a large number of bioactive secondary metabolites as well as an increase in the demand in domestic or foreign markets. The purpose of this study is the possibility of promoting the sustainable development of marjoram in the framework of organic farming through gamma irradiation, chitosan and yeast. Field experiments were conducted in a factorial split-plot design with three iterations over two consecutive seasons (2019 and 2020). The main plot is an abiotic elicitor (15 Gy gamma irradiation), two biotic elicitors 500 ppm chitosan, 0.5% yeast, and a non-elicitor (as control), while in the sub-main plot, there were two organic fertilizers, water extract of moringa 20 g/m2 dry leaves, 20 g/m2 fulvic acid, and 20 g/m2 (NPK); the latter is a traditional agrochemical. Statistical analysis of all characteristics of production and quality of biomass and biologically active secondary metabolites revealed that the use of organic fertilizers helped in increasing the yield of marjoram, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and significantly outperformed the chemical fertilizer. The experiment enhances the comprehensive and integrated development of marjoram under organic cultivation and achieves a promising alternative to traditional cultivation without the use of microbicides and/or agrochemical pesticides.