Responses of salt-affected French basil plants grown in new reclamation lands to biofertilization and selenium

Document Type : Original Article

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Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Researches Department, Horticulture Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, 12511, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of inoculate application with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), Azospirillum brasilense bacteria (AZSB) and Azotobacter chrococcum bacteria (AZBB) individually or in combination with selenium spraying at rates of 0, 25, 50 and 100 ppm, as well as their interaction on vegetative growth, herb yield, chemical composition of leaves, and volatile oil productivity of French basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) plants grown in salinity-affected soil in sandy new reclamation land. A field trial was conducted in two successive seasons (2021 and 2022) at a private farm located at Sanur Village, Biba Bistrict, Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt. The obtained results indicated that inoculating basil plants with the three microorganisms (AMF, AZSB, and AZBB) or/and spraying selenium at different concentrations significantly enhanced all vegetative growth parameters, herb yield, leaf main pigments and mineral composition, volatile oil content, and volatile oil yield. Also, the companies application of microorganisms and selenium was superior to using each one individually. The highest values of the investigated parameters were found in plants that were inoculated with AMF and sprayed with selenium at 50 or 100 ppm. Whereas there were no significant variations between the two higher selenium concentrations. Consequently, we recommended that inoculating French basil plants with AMF and selenium spraying at 50 ppm in the form of sodium selenite could be an effective method of enhancing the growth, yield, and oil productivity of plants grown in similar conditions.

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