Organic fertilizers based on seaweed extract potentially have beneficial effects on many crop plants. Here we investigate the impact of organic fertilizer on Rosmarinus officinalis measured by both yield and oil quality. Plants grown in a temperature-controlled greenhouse with a natural photoperiod and a controlled irrigation system were treated with seaweed fertilizer and an inorganic fertilizer of matching mineral composition but with no organic content. Treatments were either by spraying on to the foliage or watering direct to the compost. The essential oil was extracted by hydro-distillation with a Clevenger apparatus and analysed by gaschromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) and NMR. The chemical compositions of the plants were compared, and qualitative differences were found between fertilizer treatments and application methods. Thus sprayed seaweed fertilizer showed a significantly higher percentage of β-pinene, α-phellandrene, αterpinene (monoterpenes) and 3-methylenecycloheptene than other treatments. Italicene, α-bisabolol (sesquiterpenes), α-thujene, and E-isocitral (monoterpenes) occurred in significantly higher percentages for plants watered with the seaweed extract. Each was significantly different to the inorganic fertilizer and to controls. The seaweed treatments caused a significant increase in oil amount and leaf area as compared with both inorganic treatments and the control regardless of application method.

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A field experiment was conducted in the research station of the Horticulture and Landscape Department, College of Agriculture, Tikrit University; to study the effect of mulch type on the growth and yield of two varieties of cauliflower during the 2017 – 2018 season. The experiment was carried out according to the split -plot layout within Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and three replicates. Mulch types; black and yellow polyethylene in addition to the control treatment (non-mulch) were in the main plots, and varieties of cauliflower (Fuji Yama and White Cloud) were placed in sub-plots. Means were compared using Duncan multiple range test at 5% probability level. Results showed that there were no significant differences between mulching types in plant height, curd weight, curd length, and shoot weight. Meanwhile, there were significant increases in the number of leaves, leaf length, stem weight, compared with control. Curd diameter and chlorophyll contents increased significantly under black polyethylene mulching compared with both yellow mulching and control. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the two varieties in all studied vegetative and yield parameters except leaf length which showed a significant increase with White Cloud variety (31.778 cm) compared with Fuji Yama (29.926 cm). The interaction between black mulching and White Cloud variety was significantly superior in the number of leaves (18.333 leaf.plant-1), plant height (8.083 cm), leaf length (34.556 cm), and chlorophyll contents (45.567 SPAD). The interaction between black mulching and Fuji Yama variety gave a significant increase in curd diameter (17.500 cm). Meanwhile, the treatments did not show any significant change in other characteristics of plants.

The experiment was carried out during agricultural season 2021, to study the effect of adding two types of silicon on the vegetative growth characteristics and mineral content of mint plant grown under the salt stress. The experiment was designed using Randomized Complete Block Design RCBD as a factorial experiment with two factors and three replicates, each replicate contains 9 experimental units, each unit consists 3 pots. The first factor included adding two types of silicon oxide as well as the comparison (S0 control, S1 nano-silicon, and S2 normal silicon); the second factor is salt stress included adding pure NaCl in three concentrations, (N0 0 g L-1, N1 0.45 g L-1and N2 1.45 g L-1). The results of study showed that there are significant differences caused by the experiment factors in number of lateral branches, number of leaves, and total leaf area, as the treatment S2N2 outperformed significantly with highest value of branches number, leaves number, and total leaves area which were 8.60 branches plant-1, 286.80 leaves plant-1, 1211.5 cm2 plant-1 respectively compared with control S0N0 which gave the lowest values; 7.10 branches plant-1, 182.90 leaves plant-1, 643.3 cm2 plant-1 for the same traits. S2N0 treatment was significantly superior in mineral content of NPK in leaves and gave the highest percentages of N 3.30%, P 0.5550%, K 1.96% compared with S0N2 treatment with the lowest percentages of N 2.90%, P 0.4283%, K 1.81%.

This experiment was carried out during the 2021 agricultural season in the wooden canopy of the Department of Horticulture and Landscaping - College of Agriculture - Tikrit University to study the effect of adding two types of silicone on the properties of volatile oil, physical properties, and the active substance of the mint plant Mentha piperita L. grown under the influence of salt tension. The experiment was designed using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) as a factorial experiment with two factors and with three replicates, and each replicate contains nine experimental units, each unit consisting of 3 pots; the first factor is the addition of two types of silicon oxide, in addition to the comparison factor (S0 control, S1 Silicone Nanomaterials, and S2 Silicone Normal). In contrast, the second factor is the addition of pure sodium chloride NaCl in three concentrations with control (N0 0 g.L-1, N1 0.45 g.L-1, N2 1.45 g.L-1). The study showed significant differences between the experimental factors. Silicon and sodium chloride application achieved higher values in active substances of Menthol, Menthone, cineole, limonene, Linalool, and Geraniol.