Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

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Research Article

Indian Journal of Agricultural Research, volume 54 issue 2 (april 2020) : 175-180

Productivity of Summer Savory (Satureja hortensis L.) In Different Locations of Egypt

S.F. Hendawy1, M.S. Hussein1, H.M. Amer1, S. Salaheldin2,*
1Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
2Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan 81528, Egypt.
Cite article:- Hendawy S.F., Hussein M.S., Amer H.M., Salaheldin S. (2019). Productivity of Summer Savory (Satureja hortensis L.) In Different Locations of Egypt . Indian Journal of Agricultural Research. 54(2): 175-180. doi: 10.18805/IJARe.A-479.

ABSTRACT

Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth, yield and essential oil constituents of savory at three different locations across Egypt (El-Minya, El-Sharkia and Sinai). Plants cultivated in El-Sharkia showed significantly higher values of plant height, number of branches and herb fresh and dry weights. Also, the highest quality was observed on plant cultivated in El-Sharkia region. Thirty one main compounds were detected in GC-MS analysis of essential oil. There were obvious differences in chemical constituents of essential oil of plants cultivated under different locations. The main components were ã-Terpinene and Carvacrol. The highest ã-Terpinene and Carvacrol were observed also in plants cultivated in El-Sharkia. These results suggested that agro-climatic zone is very important for maximizing the content and composition of essential oils.Further studies are still needed to determine the precise factors of agro-climatic zoning which could be important strategies for optimizing the yield and quality.

INTRODUCTION

There are many factors which determine the success of crop cultivation in a given region. Among these factors, climate is the most important determinant of successful crop cultivation and has the greatest impact on crop productivity (Soliman et al., 2011, 2012; Neenu et al., 2013; Chakraborty and Hazari, 2017). Therefore, there is an increasing interest in studying the impact of climatic factors on plant cultivation, as one of the most important challenges facing humankind and all forms of life on the Earth. Among these plants, medicinal plants are an independent group not only cultivated because of their high economic value, but also because they are very important in the production of active substances, which are the basis of the pharmaceutical and drug industries (Sirisidthi et al., 2016; Naik et al., 2017). In a recent study, the climate zone and site selection were identified as the most important strategies for increasing the content and quality of active substances (Hendawy et al., 2019). Extreme weather fluctuations have a significant impact on the production and harvesting of various medicinal plants worldwide. For instance, recent abnormally hot summers in Germany and Poland have prevented reseeding of medicinal plants such as chamomile (Matricaria recutita). In addition, increasingly severe flooding in Hungary has reduced harvests of fennel and anise (Cavaliere, 2009).
       
Egypt climate is considered arid and semi-arid, characterized by hot dry summers and moderate temperature with very little rainfall in winters. In Egypt, cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants is mainly concentrated in the Beni-Suef, El-Fayoum, El-Minya and Assuit governorates in Upper Egypt. However, very little information is available about the effect of locations on quantity and quality of active substances, especially in the newly reclaimed lands.
       
Summer savory, (Satureja hortensis L.), belong is to Lamiaceae family and it is mostly grown in the Mediterranean region, Europe, West Asia, North Africa, the Canary Islands and South America (Mosaffa et al., 2006; Momtaz and Abdollahi, 2010).The plants reached average length of 1-2 feet producing purplish-pink flowers (Hadian et al., 2008). Besides use of savory in cookery, the remarkable chemical compositions and therapeutic values of savory species provided evidence for the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of these herbal medicines as well as other biological effects (Momtaz and Abdollahi, 2010). Since ancient times, summer savory has been widely used for therapeutic purposes such as cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle pains, cramps and infectious diseases in modern and traditional medicine. In addition, the Satureja species have a variety of properties including antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and many others properties (Bezic et al., 2009; Alizadeh et al., 2010). Moreover, this plant has different properties including antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, analgesic and carminative effects (Yazdanparast and Shahriyary, 2008; Fathi et al., 2013).
       
The current Egyptian government‘s policy is drawing attention to newly reclaimed lands for cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the quantity and quality (chemical composition of volatile oil) of summer Savory, (Satureja hortensis L.), plants under different planting locations to collect information base line for farmers and exporters of this plant in Egypt.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Experiment locations
 
There are several classifications of Egypt according to climate parameters. Recently, Egypt was divided into 8 main agro-climatic zones (Khalil et al., 2011). These zone included; (1) Alexandria and Demiatte; (2) Dakhlia and North Sinai; (3) Kafr El-Sheikh and El-Gharbia; (4) Ismalia, El-Sharkia and El-Monofia; (5) El-Kalubia, BeniSweif and El-Minya (6) Giza, Qena, Sohage and El-Wadi El-Gedid; (7) El-Behira and El-Fayoum and (8) Assiut and Aswan. This classification was determined according to the mean of Evapotranspiration (ETo). In this experiment, different locations from different agro-climatic zones were selected. The first location was El-Minya, which is located in Middle Egypt with mean temperature of 21.3°C, relative humidity of 55% and ETo value of 4.66-4.78 mm/day or 1701-1745 mm/year. The second one was El-Sharkia, which is located inside the Nile Delta with mean temperature of 23.6°C, relative humidity of 61% and ETo value of 4.45-4.62 mm/day or 1621-1686 mm/year. The third location was North Sinai, which is located on Northern East Coast of the Mediterranean Sea with mean temperature of 20.6°C, relative humidity of 79% and ETo value of 3.95-4.06 mm/day, which equivalent to 1442-1482 mm/year. El-Tina Plain is located at the northwestern part of Sinai Peninsula. It is situated under arid conditions where the annual rainfall ranges from 33.3 mm to 70.2 mm and occurs over a short period (from October to March). Air temperature ranges from 7.6 to 23.4°C and between 16.4 and 35.7°C in winter and summer, respectively. Mean evaporation is high and ranges from 3.7 to 7.4 mm/day (Khalil et al., 2011).
       
This evaluation study was carried out at different locations throughout Egypt (El-Minya, Gelbana village in El-Sharkia and Sahl El-Tina Plain in North Sinai Governorate) during two successive seasons 2016-2017. El-Minya is one of the governorates belonging to Upper Egypt and it is located south of Cairo by approximately 245 km. The second location is the Adlya farm of the SEKEM Company, Sharkiya Governorate, Egypt (80 km to the East of Cairo). The third location is El-Tina Plain which is located at the northwestern part of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt.
       
The physical and chemical properties of both soil and irrigation water were measured to different locations and analyzed according to Jackson (1973) as presented in Table (1 and 2).
 

Table 1: Physical and chemical properties of the studied soils in different locations of Egypt; El-Minya, El-Sharkia and Sinai. (Mean values of two successive seasons).


 

Table 2: Chemical properties of irrigation water for studied locations; El-Minya, El-Sharkia and Sinai. (Mean values of two successive seasons).


 
Plant material and vegetative measurements
 
On 5th March 2016 and 8th March 2017 seeds of Summer Savory (Satureja hortensis L.) were sown at a nursery in seeds flats (50x35mm and its depth 15cm with 208 cells) filled with a 1:1 (v/v) mixture of sand and peat moss. On 30th of April, the seedlings (with an average height of 15-20cm and 4-6 leaves) were transported to the field experiment. Planting was done in rows 100 cm apart and the distance between plants was 50 cm (one plant/hill and 8400 plants /4200m2) with three replicates. Drip irrigation system was used with droppers of 4.0 L/h. During both seasons, after 80 days from planting plant were harvested where samples were obtained and the vegetative parameters were recorded for each sample. The parameters included plant height (cm), number of branches, herb fresh and dry weights. Based on the climatic conditions, the plants were irrigated to maintain near field capacity. In all cases the plants were grown under an organic farming system. The experimental soils were supplied with 20 m3/faddan (Faddan = 4200 m2) of mature compost.
 
Essential oil extraction and GC/MS analysis
 
The fresh herbs (aerial parts of harvested plants) of the 2nd season were subjected to hydro-distillation for three hours using a Clevenger-type apparatus according to method of Clevenger (1928). The essential oil content (%) was recorded and total essential oil yield per plant was calculated according to the fresh herb biomass. The obtained oils were dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate and stored at 4°C for chemical constituents’ identification. Analysis using GC-MS has been done as similar as previous study of Hendawy et al., (2017).
 
Statistical analysis
 
The experiment designed using One way Randomized Blocks where combined analysis for the two growing seasons was carried out according to Snedecor and Cochran (1980). One factor was considered in this experiment which was location. To analyze the relationships between growth and yield components accurately, simple correlation and regression analysis were performed using MINITAB (2005) 14 software statistical package. The collected data were estimated for correlation and regression coefficients among characteristics (Steel et al., 1997).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The vegetative parameters presented in Fig 1 revealed that locations had a significant effect on growth and yield characters. El-Sharkia location had more pronounced effect on increasing plant height, number of branches, herb fresh weight and herb dry weight, in comparison to El-Minya and Sinai locations. There were no significant differences in term of plant height, number of branches and herb dry weight between plants cultivated in El-Minya and Sinai, but the differences were significant in herb fresh weight. Essential oil percentage and essential oil yield were also significantly impacted by location Fig 1. The greatest mean values of essential oil percentage (0.99%) and essential oil yield (0.377 ml/plant) were obtained from plants cultivated under El-Sharkia location followed by El-Minya location.
 

Fig 1: The vegetative parameters, Essential oil percentage and essential oil yield of Savory under different locations in Egypt; El-Minya, El-Sharkia and Sinai (mean values of two successive seasons).


               
The economic value of savory depends on both herb yield and oil content. There are many factors limiting the herb yield including genetic and environmental factor (specially, climate and soil properties). Herb yield, fresh and dry weights, was significantly associated with plant height and number of branches. There was significant positive correlation between herb yield and essential oil content, essential oil % and essential oil yield per plant (Table 3). Chemical analysis explained high concentrations of soluble cations and anions in soil and irrigation water such as Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, HCO3 and SO4. On the other hand, the highest value of pH, as a main factor affecting on minerals availability, was obtained in El-Minya and the lowest value in El-Sharkia. Meteorological data presented by Khalil et al., (2011) explained that high mean temperature found in El-Sharkia followed by El-Minya and the lowest mean temperature found in Sinai. These results indicated that location played an important role in Savory productivity and quality due to thatdifferent location had different climate conditions as well as different soil and irrigation water properties.

Table 3: The correlation coefficient between all traits under studied locations; El-Minya, El-Sharkia and Sinai.


 
 Essential oil constituents
 
Results of GC-MS investigations showed the effect of different locations (Table 4). The total of 31 compounds were detected representing 99.97 % to 100 % of total composition. Moreover, the total hydrocarbon compounds ranged from 67.02 to 68.80 %. Mean while the total oxygenated compounds ranged from 31.20 to 32.95%. The highest mean value of hydrocarbon compounds (68.80%) and total oxygenated compounds (32.95%) were obtained in Sinai and El-Sharkia locations, respectively. The main constituents of essential oil of savory plants were γ-Terpinene (33.59-34.42%), Carvacrol (28.92-31.10%), p-Cymene (10.55-12.65%) and α-Terpinene (6.15-6.62%). The highest mean values of both γ-Terpinene (34.42%) and Carvacrol (31.10%) were obtained from plants cultivated under El-Sharkia locations and the lowest value of γ-Terpinene (33.59) and Carvacrol (28.92%) were obtained from plants cultivated in Sinai. The highest value of p-Cymene (12.65%) was observed in Sinai and the highest value of α-Terpinene (6.62%) was observed in El-Minya (Fig 2).
 

Table 4: Effect of different locations on essential oil constituents of Satureja hortensis L. plants of the 2nd season.


 

Fig 2: The main essential oil constituents of Satureja hortensis L. plants under different locations during 2nd season.


       
These variations may be attributed to the fact that, the amount and quality of secondary metabolites (essential oils, alkaloids, etc) affected by genetic factors, climatic conditions, soil and cultivation techniques (Telic and Sahbaz, 2005; Orav et al., 2006; Bhatti et al., 2007; Garg et al., 2017). On the other hand, factors that specifically determine the composition and yield of the essential oil obtained include seasonal and maturity variation, geographical origin, genetic variation, growth stages, part of plant utilized and postharvest drying and storage (Hussain et al., 2008; Anwar et al., 2009). There are many reports in the literature showing the variation in the yield and chemical composition of the essential oil with respect to geographical regions (Celiktas et al., 2006; Van Vuuren et al., 2007).
       
It is desirable for plant breeder to know the extent of relationship between yield and its various components which will facilitate them in selecting plants of desirable characteristics. The needs of new cultivars having higher herb and oil yield leads to the objective of breeding programs to develop new cultivars having higher quality and greater yielding ability. The knowledge of relationship among various yield components has been successfully exploited towards crop improvement. There are various statistical techniques covering correlation, regression, path analysis to evaluate yield and yield components for breeding programs. In this study, summer Savory was cultivated in different location with different agro-climate zones, soil and irrigation water properties. It was concluded that location had significant impact on Savory plants growth, yield, essential oil% and yield as well as essential oil compositions. It is clearly obvious that Savory tolerates to high salinity condition such as Sinai region and it was shown a success in arid and semi-arid regions. We recommend cultivating Savory especially in El-Sharkia region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Bilateral Research Project between the Egyptian Academy of Science and Technology and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences where project title: Adaptation and maximization the productivity of some new and promising medicinal and aromatic plants as a source of pharmaceutical and raw materials industries under abiotic stress conditions.

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