Evaluation of essential oils content and yield of Satureja hortensis in response to different copper and zinc treatments

Copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are the important trace elements for plant growth، which also play key roles in many structural and biochemical function in plants. In this study، regarding the high importance of the Savory (Satureja hortensis) plants in pharmaceuticals and food industries، the effects of different levels of Cu and Zn on essential oils content، yield and composition of reference plant were undertaken to investigate. The employed treatments were considered as Cu (0، 5، 25 mg kg-1 soil from CuSO4. 5H2O) and Zn (0، 10، 50 mg kg-1 soil from ZnSO4. 2H2O) as well as their combination. Isolated essential oil (EO) was analyzed using GC and GC-MS apparatus. The results revealed that the highest and the lowest EO content and yield are obtained in Cu5Zn10 and Cu25Zn50 treatments، respectively. The GC-MS analysis showed that carvacrol، γ-terpinene، p-cymene and delta-3-carene are the main EO constituents and found in Cu5Zn10، Cu25Zn50، Cu25Zn10 and Cu5Zn0 treatments، respectively. The comparison of EO content، yield and compositions of plants treated with different Cu and Zn levels indicated that this characteristics and especially oxygenated monoterpenes value are increased with the low levels of employed elements and subsequently decreased with increasing the elements dosages.