Effects of Plant Density and Sowing Date on the Growth, Flowering and Quantity of Essential Oil of Calendula Officinalis L
Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 5(20), pp. 5110-5115, 30 September, 2011 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JMPR ISSN 1996-0875 ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Effects of plant density and sowing date on the growth, flowering and quantity of essential oil of Calendula officinalis L. Ahmad Reza Berimavandi 1*, Davood Hashemabadi 2, Mohammad Vali Facouri Ghaziani 2 and Behzad Kaviani 2 1Department of Agronomy, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran. 2Department of Horticultural Science, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran. Accepted 6 July, 2011 Pot marigold ( Calendula officinalis L.) is a medicinal and ornamental plant. In an experiment which was designed in factorial on the basis of completely randomized block design with 3 replicates in 36 plots. The effects of plant density (20, 40, 60 and 80 plants/m 2- factor A) and sowing date (April 19 and 29, and May 10, 2010- factor B) were evaluated on the growth, flowering and essential oil of C. officinalis L. Studies were carried out on experimental field in Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran. Investigated characteristics were: plant dry weight, flower number/plant, branch number/plant, flower dry weight, flower yield/area unit, and quantity of essential oil. Maximum of plant dry weight (35.67 g), flower number/plant (25.88), branch number/plant (9.44), flower dry weight (3.72 g), and amount of essential oil/100 g dried flower (0.16 ml) were obtained at the 20 plants/m 2, while maximum of flower dry weight (132.07 g), and amount of essential oil (0.19 ml), both per area unit were obtained at the 60 plants/m2.
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