%0 Journal Article %T Effect of Organic and Chemical Fertilizers on Growth and Yield of Green Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) %J Journal Of Agroecology %I Ferdowsi University of Mashhad %Z 2008-7713 %A Rahimpoor, Maryam %A fallah, Seyfollah %D 2018 %\ 03/21/2018 %V 10 %N 1 %P 146-159 %! Effect of Organic and Chemical Fertilizers on Growth and Yield of Green Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) %K Leaf Area Index %K Macronutrients %K Manure %K Micronutrients %R 10.22067/jag.v10i1.54975 %X Introduction Despite the notable application of chemical drugs, medicinal plants and drugs that extracted from them widely has been used, so that in some countries they are integral components of remedy Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the major essential oils producing species. Although the applications of different sources of manures have been shown the significant effects on yield and the quality of agricultural products, but overusing of chemical fertilizers in crop production resulted in numerous problems such as contamination of groundwater, nitrate accumulation and heavy metal toxicity. In many cases, the application of expensive chemical fertilizers causes environmental pollution and ecological damages that lead to the increase in cost of production. Materials and methods In order to evaluate the effect of organic and chemical fertilizers on growth and performance of green basil, an experiment was conducted, is based on randomized complete block design with eight treatments and three replications in the research farm of Agricultural College, Shahrekord University in 2014. Treatments were included NP (N + P), NPS (N + P + S), NPM (N + P + micronutrients), NPSM (N + P + S + micronutrients), CMp (cattle manure based on phosphorus), CMn (cattle manure based on the nitrogen), BLp (broiler litter based on phosphorus) and BLn (broiler litter based on the nitrogen), respectively. Plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area index, fresh yield, stem fresh weight, leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, aboveground dry weight were measured. All data were analyzed with SAS software. Significant differences between individual means were determined using Fisher’s protected least significant difference (LSD) test (P≤ 0.05). Results and discussion The results showed that the effect of different sources of fertilizer on plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area index, fresh yield, stem fresh weight, leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, stems dry weight, aboveground dry weight were significant at 1% probability. The greatest amount of above mentioned traits were obtained from the second harvest of basil. The highest leaf area index was 5.7 which was two times more than leaf area index in the first harvest. The highest fresh weight (14576 kg/ha) was achieved with broiler litter in the second harvest. In general, BLn treatment produced the highest yield, stem fresh weight and leaf fresh weight in the first harvest (10111, 372 and 639 kg/ha, respectively) and second harvest (14577, 535 and 992 kg/ha, respectively). It seems that organic manures included much of mineral nutrient required for plant growth and richness with macro elements and less than micro elements can improve nutritional status of soil. Similar results for positive effect of organic manures specially poultry manure on enhancement of basil height, increase in dry weight of chamomile, augmentation in dry weight of lemon balm and enhancement in dry weight of aerial parts of pepper with application of vermicompost has been reported. In another experiment for determination of sorghum bicolor yield reported that application of 5-15 ton per hectare poultry manure can improve 5 times in compared to control treatment. Also the experiment was conducted to determine the cotton yield results showed that poultry manure at the rate of 20 tons per hectare produced the highest cotton yield. Conclusion The positive effects of broiler litter in basil plant production indicated that soil amendment with broiler litter based on the nitrogen can be created suitable conditions for appropriate growth and production of basil and its effect also more than the complete chemical nutrition of plant. Acknowledgments We wish to thank, Shahrekord University, Iran for the financial support of the project. %U https://agry.um.ac.ir/article_36303_e6f442646ea550b5a1d6aa13ba308117.pdf