Evaluation of quality indices of seed germination and seedling growth of oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) under chemical and organic farming conditions

In order to study the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of oregano herb seeds under the application of various organic, chemical and integrated nutrition systems, an experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of the Saatlo, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Urmia, during two successive seasons of 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. This study included two field and laboratory experiments in a complete randomized block design with three replications and completely randomized design with four replications, respectively. The experimental treatments included NPK, two organic (vermicompost and biochar), two biological (nitroxin and bio super phosphate) fertilizers and their all twin combinations and control (non-fertilized). The results showed that the application of organic fertilizers caused a significant increase in all studied traits compared to the control (without fertilizer). The interaction of year and treatments showed that the use of Nitroxin was affected on seed and biological yield and 1000 seed weight in the second year, so that the highest amount of these traits was obtained (2577 kg ha-1), (34279 kg ha-1) and (5.6160 g), respectively. Also, the highest amount of harvest index was obtained (20.321%) of vermicompost treatment in the first year. Nitroxin + Bio super phosphate treatment had the highest effect on germination rate (1084.107 No. day-1), seed vigor index (1.38), germination percentage (93.5%) and germination vigour (16%), compared to separate consumption treatments. Also, the highest amount of fresh and dry weight of seedling was observed in Vermicompost + Nitroxin treatment at 0.0052 and 0.0032 g, respectively.