Biomass production and essential oil of lemon balm cultivated under colored screens and nitrogen

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of light quality and nitrogen availability on the biomass production, yield and composition of essential oil of lemon balm (Lippia alba). Five doses of N (0; 40; 80; 120 and 160 kg ha-1) were studied, using urea and three light quality conditions obtained with the use of colored shading nets (blue and red), 50% irradiance and under full sun. The experiment was arranged in a 5x3 factorial scheme, in split plots, with seven replicates. After 60 days of cultivation under the shading nets, a higher dry leaf biomass (4.83 g per plant) was observed in the plants under blue net cultivation at a dose of 102 kg ha-1 of N. The plants grown under full sun presented greater amount of neral and geranial, major components of the essential oil of the lemon balm, which give commercial value to the species. The use of colored shading nets does not influence the composition of the essential oil of lemon balm, but increases the concentration of the compounds found in it. Nitrogen does not affect the quality of the essential oil of lemon balm, but it provides higher oil yield (0.27 g per plant) at the dose of 65 kg ha-1 of N.

Productivity and growth in cowpea inoculated with rhizobia under different light environments

“…GNAP was higher in plants cultivated under Aluminet and full sun, which differentiate from plants under red and black nets. The presence of nitrogen may stimulate the increment of biomass per area, foliar area, and photosynthetic rate (Alves et al 2018). In such context, the availability of nitrogen favors cowpea growth when cultivated in light environments under Aluminet and full sun.…”

Impact of Colored Shade Nets on Biomass Production, Essential Oil Composition and Orientin and Isoorientin Content in Lippia gracilis Schauer

“…Studies have shown the positive or negative influence of light on vegetative growth and the accumulation of secondary metabolites in aromatic and medicinal plants [2,7,16,34,56] . Patchoulol contents were slightly higher in the EO from Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth.…”

“…plants grown under full sunlight (65.68 %) and under a red net (66.84 %) [7] . Alves et al [56] . observed a variation in the major compounds neral (24.68–29.18 %), geranial (35.96–42.07 %) and carvone (0.10–11.67 %) in the EO of Lippia alba grown under blue and red nets and in full sun.…”

Effect of light spectra on stem cutting rooting and lavender growth

“…Some authors suggest that luminous spectra may influence plant mass production but not the EO, with luminous intensity more related to EO yield values (Lima et al, 2017;Alsahli, 2019). In the species, Lippia alba, Mentha spicata, and Petroselinum crispum, differences in the luminous spectra did not alter the EO, but the spectra did influence the EO chemicals (Alves et al, 2018;Ascrizzi, Fraternale, & Flamini, 2018;Nguyen & Saleh, 2019).…”