Effect of vermicompost, biophosphate and azotobacter on quantity and quality of essential oil of Dracocephalum moldavica L.

Dracocephalum moldavica L. is an annual species of the Lamiaceae family with local and global importance. The aerial parts of the plant containing essential oil used in medicinal, cosmetic and food industries. In order to study the effects of biofertilizers on quantity and quality of essential oil in Dragonhead including the content of the essential oil and the content of the geraniol, geranial and geranyl acetate in the essential oil, an experiment was conducted at Tarbiat Modarres University in 2009. The factors were vermicompost (0, 15, 30% V/pot), Azotobacter (inoculated and non-inoculated) and phosphatic biofertilizer (inoculated and non-inoculated). A factorial experimental design was applied in a randomized complete blocks with twelve treatments and three replications. Mean comparison was carried out using Tukey multiple range test at 5% level. Results showed that the highest essential oil content (0.74%) and geranyl acetate content in the essential oil (61.1%) were obtained at the third level of the Vermicompost treatment (30%). The highest geraniol and geranial content in the essential oil (24.2% and 18.2%) respectively were obtained with V15× B0 and V15×A0.