Effects of Single and Combined Application of Organic, Biological and Chemical Fertilizers on Quantitative and Qualitative Yield of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)

Medicinal plants were one of the main natural resources of Iran from ancient times. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is from Apiaceae family that it has cultivated extensively in the world. Management and environmental factors such as nutritional management has a significant impact on the quantity and quality of plants. Application of organic fertilizers in conventional farming systems is not common and most of the nutritional need of plants supply through chemical fertilizers for short period. Excessive and unbalanced use of fertilizers in the long period, reduce crop yield and soil biological activity, accumulation of nitrates and heavy metals, and finally cause negative environmental effects and increase the cost of production. The use of bio-fertilizers and organic matter are taken into consideration to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and increase the quality of most crops. Stability and soil fertility through the use of organic fertilizers are important due to having most of the elements required by plants and beneficial effects on physical, chemical, biological and soil fertility. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of organic, biological and chemical fertilizers on quality and quantity characteristics of coriander.
In order to study the effects of single and combined applications of organic, biological and chemical fertilizers on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), an experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications and 12 treatments at Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in - 2011. Treatments included: (1) mycorrhizae (Glomus mosseae) (2) biosulfur (Thiobacillus sp.), (3) chemical fertilizer (NPK), (4) cow manure, )5( vermin compost, )6( mycorrhizae chemical fertilizer, )7( mycorrhizae cow manure, )8( mycorrhizae vermicompost, )9( biosulfur chemical fertilizer, )10( biosulfur cow manure, )11( biosulfur vermin compost and )12( control. Glomus mosseae was used at -2 cm depth below the seed. Chemical fertilizer, vermicompost (17 t. ha-1) and cow manure (60 t.ha-1) were used at 30 cm depth . Coriander was planted through furrow in mid-March 2010. The distance between rows was 60 cm and irrigation was done once a week. The common cultivation practices used for this plant and no pesticides or herbicides were used during the growing season. Coriander harvested in early July 2011 when the plants became yellow. Then, plant indices were measured in laboratory which included plant height, the number of lateral branch, the number of umbels per plant, the number of seed per umbels and plant, hundred seed weight, biological and economical yield, harvest index, essential oil percentage and essential oil yield. Statistical analysis of the data was performed by SAS 9.1and means comparison were compared by Duncan’s multiple range (P The results showed that the highest number of lateral branch per plant (6.6) was obtained in biosulfur cow manure treatment. Also, the highest number of umbel per plant (19) and number of umbelet per umbel (5) were observed in mycorrhizae treatment. Mycorrhizae by improving the nutritional status of plants, soil microbial community strengthening and protecting plants against pathogens increases plant growth and development. The highest number of seeds per umbel (21.6), the number of seeds per plant (366), seed yield (1468 kg,ha-1) and harvest index (55%) were obtained in mycorrhizae chemical fertilizer treatment. Combined application of biosulfur with chemical fertilizer had a noticeable effect on 100-seed weights and biological yield indices. Ali et al., (2009) concluded that application of intermediate levels of nitrogen fertilizer and mycorrhizae increased biological yield of coriander, they reported that the use of nitrogen fertilizer will speed up the establishment of mycorrhizae. Studies showed that the combined use of chemical fertilizer and manure improved crop yield by increasing the efficiency ofnutrient absorption for plants. The highest essential oil percentage and essential oil yield were observed in mycorrhizae and mycorrhizae with chemical fertilizer treatments, respectively (0.2% and 2602 g.ha-1). Also, the essential oil yield was 7 times more in mycorrhizae爗ꚉ욥 fertilizer than biosulphur treatment. Combined application of cow manure and chemical fertilizer increased quality of indices of Ajowan. It seems that combined application of organic and bio fertilizers and cow manure improve soil physical and chemical properties, increase the availability of nutrients and finallyincrease the yield and quality of plants.
Overall, results of this experiment showed that application of biological fertilizer especially mycorrhizae had a significant effect on improving quantitative and qualitative yield of Coriander. Furthermore, the combined application of mycorrhizae with organic and chemical fertilizer had better effects than their single application.