Abstract

Satureja hortensis L. (Summer savory) is one of the most important medicinal and spice plants cultivated in many parts of the world. A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of nitrogen (0, 50, 100 and 150 Kg.ha^-1) and calcium carbonate (0, 5 and 10 t.ha^-1) application rates on the growth and essential oil content and composition of S. hortensis cv. Saturn. Nitrogen (N) fertilization increased plant height, fresh and dry weights of herb, stem diameter, mean of Leaf Area (LA), drug yield and leaf N content as well as essential oil yield. Plant fresh and dry weights and mean of LA were increased by CaCO₃ up to 5 t. ha^-1. In addition, CaCO₃ application positively affected the leaf Ca²⁺ content and essential oil content and yield, but plant width and leaf N content were negatively affected. The interaction effect of N and CaCO₃ application was significant for leaf N and essential oil contents. Gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses of essential oil showed that the chemical compositions of S. hortensis essential oil did not change due to N fertilization while CaCO₃application increased the relative percentages of carvacrol, γ-terpinene and β-bisabollene.

Key words: Satureja hortensis L., essential oil, calcium carbonate, nitrogen, carvacrol.