Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Associate Professor, Department of Horticultural Science and Engineering, Orientation of Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Department of Horticultural Science and Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
3 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, maragheh University, Maragheh, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Sodium nitroprusside and triacontanol , as plant growth regulators, improve plant growth and development and influence the production of secondary metabolites. Also, Triacontanol, as a plant growth stimulant, plays a central role in regulating many biochemical and physiological processes of plants, including photosynthesis. Dracocephalum moldavica L. is a herbaceous, annual and aromatic plant with white and blue flowers from the mint family (Lamiaceae), which is native to Central Asia but has been domesticated in Central and Eastern Europe. Considering the economic importance of Moldavian balm medicinal plant, in this research, it has been tried to investigate the effects of sodium nitroprusside and Triacontanol on the morphological changes and quantitative and qualitative performance of secondary metabolites, especially the yield of essential oil of moldavian balm medicinal plant.
Materials and Methods: This investigation was conducted as a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replications at the Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University. The studied factors include foliar spraying of three different concentrations of sodium nitroprusside (0, 0.5 and 1 mM) and tricanthanoltriethanol (0, 0.5 and 1 mM) in the flowering stage. Finally, growth traits (leaf surface and number of lateral stems), shoot yield (fresh and dry weight), essential oil yieldand percentage, biochemical traits (soluble solids, protein, flavonoid and total phenol content) and content of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sodium) were examined in full bloom stage. After the measurement of desired parameters, the obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software. Comparison of mean data was done using Duncan's multiple range test. All figures were drawn using Excel software.
Results and Discussion: The results obtained in the present study showed that interaction of different concentrations of Tria and SNP had a significant effect on leaf area and the number of lateral branches. Also, SNP at a concentration of 1 mM caused a significant increase in the fresh and dry weight of shoots in the plant. Total soluble solids were significantly affected by different concentrations of Tria. Foliar spraying of Tria and SNP had significant effects on the nutrients content of leaf tissue and the highest increase was recorded at a concentration of 1 mM. Also, foliar spraying of SNP alone and together with Tria had a significant effect on the content of phenol, flavonoid and total soluble protein at the level of 1%, and the treatment of 1 mM SNP with 1 mM Tria caused an increase of 62.93, 51.24 and 34.92% compared to the control treatment, respectively. According to the results, the treatment of 1 mM Tria with 1 mM SNP had the greatest effect on the yield of essential oil and increased the essential oil yield of Moldavian Balm plant by 207% compared to the control treatment.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the use of sodium nitroprusside and triacantanol with the appropriate concentration had significant effects on the growth and yield of the Moldavian Balm plant, and the treatment of 1mM triacantanol + 1mM sodium nitroprusside was introduced as the optimal treatment in this study.
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