Introduction Vegetables, which provide essential nutrients and healthpromoting elements, constantly remain in the area of interest of producers and consumers of so-called "healthy foods". The selection of vegetables cultivated for harvest of fresh material is very wide, and the diversity of products and biological components allows for great potentials of dietary compositions. Pepper (Capsicum sp.) is cultivated in many countries around the world as a precious vegetable with high biological value (Molnár et al., 2005; Wetwitayaklung and Phaechamud, 2011). The field cultivation of sweet pepper for fresh vegetable marketing as well as for processing has gained significant economic importance in Poland in recent years (Gajc-Wolska and Skąpski, 2002; Buczkowska, 2007; Gajc-Wolska et al., 2007). The unique taste quality and health-promoting properties of the fruit, conditioned by the presence of antioxidants and mineral components, contribute to the value of this vegetable in the human diet (Flores et al., 2004; Pokluda, 2004; Zaki et al., 2013). Obtaining a good marketable yield of sweet peppers from open field cultivation in less favorable conditions depends to a large extent on the choice of cultivar and on the application of treatments that enhance the yield (Buczkowska, 2007; Gajc-Wolska et al., 2007), including mineral feeding of plants and the level of feeding (Marín et al., 2009; Kowalska and Sady, 2012; Michałojć and Dzida, 2012). Proper mineral feeding of plants plays an important role in shaping their growth and development, as well as their size and quality of yield. In recent years, calcium has become more popular as its additional function of a secondary information transmitter was discovered. Calcium ion uptake by plants is to a large extent genetically conditioned. The process of Ca absorption, transport, and distribution in a plant is influenced by many soil, biological, and climatic factors (White and Broadley, 2003; Bouzo and Cortez, 2012; Shakoor and Bhat, 2014). Low Ca concentration in plant tissues is the main cause of various physiological disorders. One of the most frequently appearing disorders in pepper feeding in covered cultivation as well as in open fields, which happens in the period of most intense fruit growth, is blossom-end rot (BER), which destroys the usefulness of pepper, tomato, and eggplant fruits (Alexander and
In the present study, we investigated the irrigation of L. angustifolia plants and drying temperatures on the yield of dry leaves and lavender essential oil. Plants were irrigated using an on-surface system with drip lines. Plants without additional irrigation were the control object. Each dose of water consisted of 15 mm. The total amount of water used for irrigation in 2016 and 2017 was 90 L·m−2. The plant raw material was dried using two methods: in natural conditions and convectively. Natural drying was performed in a shaded room at a temperature of 20–22 °C for five days. The convective drying process was carried out in a drying oven in a stream of air at 35 °C, flowing parallel to the layer being dried at 0.5 m·s−1. Under the influence of irrigation, there was an increase in the yield of fresh and airdried leaves and a higher content of essential oil (EO) than in the cultivation without irrigation. The EO obtained from irrigated plants was characterized by higher contents of caryophyllene oxide (9.08%), linalool (7.87%), and β-caryophyllene (4.58%). In nonirrigated crops, α-muurolol (19.67%), linalyl acetate (15.76%), borneol (13.90%), γ-cadinene (8.66%), camphor (2.55%) had a higher percentage in the EO. After drying under natural conditions, the airdried herb yield and leaf yield of lavender were higher by 25% and 17%, respectively, as compared to the raw material dried at 30 °C. Higher drying temperatures (30 °C) increased the EO by 18% on average and total phenolic acid (TPA) by 50%. The plant material dried at 30 °C, with a larger amount of TPA, showed higher antioxidant activity (AA) in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) tests. Linalyl acetate (15.76%) and linalool (7.87%) were predominant in the EO extracted from the oven-dried herb. Drying under natural conditions resulted in a decreased content of linalyl acetate (0.89%), β-caryophyllene (0.11%), linalool (1.17%), and camphor (1.80%) in comparison with thermal drying. Linalool, linalyl acetate, and β-caryophyllene had a higher percentage in the EO extracted from the raw material obtained from irrigated and oven-dried plants, whereas camphor was found to have a larger percentage in the case of the EO from nonirrigated plants. Our study reveals that there are prospects for the practical use of irrigation in lavender cultivation and of the raw material preservation method in order to modify the EO content and chemical composition.
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