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Effect of nitrogen‐application rate on the biomass, concentration, and composition of essential oils in the leaves and roots of three types of parsley
Author(s) -
Petropoulos Spiros A.,
Daferera Dimitra,
Polissiou Moschos G.,
Passam Harold C.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of plant nutrition and soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 1436-8730
DOI - 10.1002/jpln.200700311
Subject(s) - composition (language) , essential oil , chemistry , nitrogen , biomass (ecology) , horticulture , yield (engineering) , crop , botany , food science , agronomy , biology , philosophy , linguistics , materials science , organic chemistry , metallurgy
The effect of four levels of nitrogen (N) application (3.2, 16.2, 32.4, and 48.6 g m –2 ) on the biomass and concentration and composition of essential oils of three parsley types (plain leaf, turnip‐rooted, curl leaf) was investigated in order to determine the optimum N level for oil production by this crop. The concentration of essential oils in the roots and leaves of plain leaf parsley and turnip‐rooted parsley was not affected by N application, but decreased with increasing N rate in curl leaf parsley. However, because the mean foliage biomass for all three types was about 2.5 times higher at 16.2 g m –2 N than in the low‐N‐rate treatment, the mean foliar oil yield increased from 0.68 to 1.38 g m –2 . Root biomass increased by a factor of 1.7 at 16.2 g m –2 N (compared to the low‐N‐rate treatment), but oil yield increased only marginally from 0.3 to 0.4 g m –2 . The composition of the essential oils of roots and leaves differed between parsley types. Increasing N application caused a reduction in the percentage of β‐phellandrene in the essential oils of parsley leaves. In turnip‐rooted parsley, increasing N caused a reduction in the percentage of myristicin and apiole. Because these three components of the essential oils contribute to parsley aroma, it may be concluded that although application of N fertilizer leads to higher parsley biomass and oil yield per plant, the essential oil components may change and aroma quality may be affected negatively.