EFFECT OF NITROGEN FERTILIZATION AND FOLIAR SPRAYING WITH VITAMIN C ON THE GROWTH, SEEDS YIELD AND ESSENTIAL OILS OF FENNEL (Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare Mill.)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted during the growing season of 2008/2009 in the fields of the College of Agriculture / University of Basrah to study the effect of nitrogen fertilization and foliar spraying with vitamin C on growth, seed yield of fennel and its essential oils . This experiment included 9 treatments combination resulted from the interaction between the addition of three levels of nitrogen fertilizer 0 , 75 and 150 kg N/ha and three concentrations of vitamin C 0 , 15 and 30 mg/liter. Randomized Complete Block Design was used with three replications . Revised Least Significant Differences (R.L.S.D) was used. Test was used at probability of 5% to compare mean variations . Result can be summarized as follows: Increasing nitrogen levels, significantly increased plant height and fresh weights of plant, whereas, the level 75 kg N/ha gave the highest significant increase in number of lateral branches, number of leaves per plant, the number of inflorescence , number of florets/plant, seeds yield/plant and the oil yield/plant. Spraying of vitamin C at 30 mg/L significantly increased number of lateral branches, the essential Oil Percentage, whereas the spraying of vitamin C at 15 mg/L significantly increased the number of inflorescence , number of florets/plant, specific gravity and density of oil . There was a significant effect of the interaction between the two factors on all studdied parameters.