Molla, A.; Solomou, A.D.; Tziouvalekas, M.; Lolas, A.; Skoufogianni, E. Dynamics of Agronomic Characteristics and Plant Diversity in Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora Paláu) Cultivation in Greece. Agriculture2024, 14, 97.
Molla, A.; Solomou, A.D.; Tziouvalekas, M.; Lolas, A.; Skoufogianni, E. Dynamics of Agronomic Characteristics and Plant Diversity in Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora Paláu) Cultivation in Greece. Agriculture 2024, 14, 97.
Molla, A.; Solomou, A.D.; Tziouvalekas, M.; Lolas, A.; Skoufogianni, E. Dynamics of Agronomic Characteristics and Plant Diversity in Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora Paláu) Cultivation in Greece. Agriculture2024, 14, 97.
Molla, A.; Solomou, A.D.; Tziouvalekas, M.; Lolas, A.; Skoufogianni, E. Dynamics of Agronomic Characteristics and Plant Diversity in Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora Paláu) Cultivation in Greece. Agriculture 2024, 14, 97.
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to study the impact of different rates of bio fertilizer on agronomic characteristics and the relations among herbaceous plant diversity and soil properties of Aloysia citrodora in central Greece. For this aim a two – year Completely Randomized Design (CRD) field experiment was carried out in central Greece. The experiments included four biological fertilizer levels, BF0: 0 kg ha-1, BF50: 50 kg ha-1, BF100: 100 kg ha-1 and BF150: 150 kg ha-1 with 3 replication. Plant height, dry stem, dry leaves, dry total yield and Leaf Area Ιndex (LAI) were measured during the two growing years. The results showed that in the 1st studied the maximum plant height was observed in BF150 treatment while the 2nd year the BF150 level provoked a raise of 16.08% and 1.09% compared to BF50 and BF100, respectively. The 1st year the values of total dry yield were better in BF150 application. The 2nd year the total yield increased by 50.27% in BF100 and 50.09% BF150 treatments. Moreover, LAI was ameliorated by applied the BF100 and BF150 treatments both in two studied years. A key finding in this study is that Aloysia citrodora ecosystem favors herbaceous plant species richness. Also, soil factors (soil organic matter, P and K) promote positive herbaceous plant diversity within the Aloysia citrodora ecosystem. Finally, Aloysia citrodora can be a promising medicinal plant, cultivated under the Mediterranean climatic conditions.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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