Title (eng)

Foliar application of various biostimulants produces contrasting response on yield, essential oil and chemical properties of organically grown sage (Salvia officinalis L.)

Author

Davide Farruggia   University of Palermo

Johannes Novak   University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Francesco Salamone   University of Palermo

Claudio Leto   University of Palermo / Research Consortium for the Development of Innovative Agro-Environmental Systems

Giuseppe Di Miceli   University of Palermo

Mario Licata   University of Palermo

Publishing

Frontiers Media Sa

Description (eng)

Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is a medicinal and aromatic plant (MAP) belonging to the Lamiaceae family. Its morphological, productive and chemical characteristics are affected by abiotic and biotic factors. The use of biostimulants seems to be one of the most interesting innovative practices due to fact they can represent a promising approach for achieving sustainable and organic agriculture. Despite a large application in horticulture, the use of biostimulants on MAPs has been poorly investigated. On this basis, a field experiment in a 2-year study was done to assess the effect of foliar treatments with different types of biostimulants (containing seaweeds, fulvic acids and protein hydrolysates) and two frequencies of application on morphological, productive, and chemical characteristics of S. officinalis grown organically in Mediterranean environment. Morphological, productive, and chemical parameters were affected by the factors. The biostimulant application generated higher plant height, chlorophyll content, relative water content, biomass yield and essential oil yield compared to control plants. In addition, more
frequent application of biostimulants produced higher biomass and essential oil yield. The application of fulvic acid and protein hydrolysates every week produced the highest total fresh yields (between 3.9 and 8.7 t ha-1) and total dry yields (between 1.3 and 2.5 t ha-1). The essential oil yield almost doubled (33.9 kg ha-1) with a higher frequency of protein hydrolysates application. In this study, 44 essential oil compounds were identified, and the frequency factor significantly influenced the percentage of 38 compounds. The highest percentage of some of the most representative monoterpenes, such as 1,8-cineole, ?-thujone and camphor, were observed in biostimulated plants, with average increases between 6% and 35% compared to control plants. The highest values for total phenolics, rosmarinic acid, antioxidant activity were obtained in control plants and with a lower frequency of biostimulant applications. This study emphasizes how biostimulant applications may be used to improve sage production performance and essential oil parameters when produced in agricultural organic system. At the same time, biostimulants application
caused a decrease in total phenolic, antioxidant activity and rosmarinic acid values.

Object languages

English

Date

2024

Rights

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a
CC BY 4.0 - Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

CC BY 4.0 International

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Classification

Prolonged Water-Stress; Gene-Expression; Plant-Growth; Antioxidant; Extracts; Fertilization; Variability; Phosphorus; Greenhouse; Nitrogen

Member of the Collection(s) (1)

o:605 Publications / University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna