Interaction of biochar and superabsorbent on the composition of Satureja rechingeri Jamzad essential oil under drought stress

To study the effect of biochar and superabsorbent on the chemical composition of Satureja rechingeri Jamzad essential oil, under drought stress conditions, a factorial split-plot experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2018-2019 at the Medicinal Plant Research Farm of Lorestan University. Treatments included drought stress as the main plot at three levels (100, 80, and 60% of water requirement) and cow manure biochar at two levels (0 and 10 ton ha-1), and stockosorb hydrogel at three levels (0, 60, and 120 mg plant-1) as subplots. Twenty-four compounds were identified in aerial parts essential oil of the plant using GC-MS. The main constituents included carvacrol (76.6%), γ-terpinene (5.8%), p < /em>-cymene (3%), terpinen-4-ol (2.5%), 1,8-cineole (2%), and linalool (0.9%). The results showed that the highest amount of carvacrol (90.8%) was observed in severe moisture stress+biochar+60 mg stockosorb and the lowest (73.8%) was observed in stress-free control treatment with biochar+120 mg stockosorb. The results showed that interactions between drought stress and biochar had a significant effect on essential oil yield. Also, no correlation was observed between the presence and absence of stockosorb superabsorbent with different compounds of Satureja rechingeri essential oil.