IMPACT OF BIO-FERTILIZATION ON GROWTH, YIELD, ACTIVE INGREDIENTS AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FENNEL (FOENICULUM VULGARE MILL.) PLANT

Abstract

The experiment was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, during two successive seasons of 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. This study aims to evaluate the ability of bio-fertilizer mixture and rationalization of mineral fertilization to enhance the production of fennel and reduce chemical fertilizer application, as well as, to increase the anethole as an active ingredient instead of estragole, which is an undesirable component. In a pot experiment, seeds of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill) were sown in a mixture of sand and compost (3:1) in seventeen levels of fertilization in a completely randomized design with four replicates. The fertilization levels were a mixture of bio-fertilizer containing Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus circulans, and Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza which was in liquid form, alone or with the proportions of the recommended dose of chemical NPK, and the full recommended dose of NPK has been used as a control. Mixture of three bio-fertilizer strains added once (after one month of planting), twice (first addition was a month after sowing and the second was a month after the first addition), three times (first addition was a month after sowing and a month separates the addition and another), or four times (first addition was a month after sowing and a month separates the addition and another) in proportions as follow: