Effect of planting density and biofertilization on growth and productivity of Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf. (Lemongrass) plant under Siwa Oasis conditions
Emad Saleh Hamed, Wael Ismail Mohamed Toaima and Mona El-Shazly
This experiment was conducted in north western desert of Egypt in Siwa Oasis region to study the effect of planting density and biofertilization treatments on productivity and quality of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) plants in two seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. The experiment was installed in split plot design. Cultivation was done at two planting densities:- planting in rows 50 cm apart (16800 plants/feddan) and in rows 75 cm apart (11200 plants/feddan). The used biofertilizer was a mixture of Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus megaterium and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The interaction effects showed that cultivation at wider inter-row spacing with biofertilization increased herb biomass and oil yield per plant while cultivation at narrow inter-row spacing with biofertilization increased productivity per feddan. In most cases, the quality of produced essential oil was in agreement with the minimum ISO standard of citral content. The effect of agriculture practices on citral content was more obvious in first cut of the experiment. The extracted oil possessed a strong antimicrobial activity. Biofertilizers application increased the antagonistic activity of lemongrass oil against tested pathogenic microbes.
Emad Saleh Hamed, Wael Ismail Mohamed Toaima, Mona El-Shazly. Effect of planting density and biofertilization on growth and productivity of Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf. (Lemongrass) plant under Siwa Oasis conditions. J Med Plants Stud 2017;5(2):195-203.