THE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT WATER AND NITROGEN APPLICATIONS ON SOME YIELD PARAMETERS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY IN SAGE (Salvia officinalis L.)

Abstract

The effect of different water and nitrogen applications on some yield parameters and antioxidant activity on sage (Salvia officinalis L. var. Extrakta) was investigated. A field trial was arranged in the split plot design with four replications under the Bornova ecological conditions in 2012 and 2013. The following water regimes were used as main plots: S1 (irrigated when it’s needed), S2 (20 days dry before harvesting) and S3 (40 days dry before harvesting) and nitrogen applications were used as sub-plots such as 0 kg ha-1 and 60 kg ha -1 . The following plant characteristics such as plant height (cm), fresh herbage yield (kg ha −1 ), drug herbage yield (kg ha −1 ), drug leaf yield (kg ha −1 ), essential oil ratio (%), essential oil yield, essential oil content (%), antioxidant capacity (μmol FRAPgDM) were recorded. The highest essential oil ratio was obtained from the S3 water dose such as 2.07%. The main component in the essential oils recovered by both experiments were α+β thujone showing a large variation. Considering the N fertilization combined with the S2 irrigation had positive effect on the characteristics measured. It could be concluded that the antioxidant activity tended to increase as the soil moisture decreased.