Effect of vegetal protein hydrolysates application on some growth and photosynthetic parameters, nutrient uptake and essential oil content of sage (Salvia officinalis) under drought stress

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

2 Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Iran

3 Department of Phytochemistry, Medicinal Plants and Drugs Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

10.30466/asr.2026.56588.1908

Abstract

Drought is one of the most important environmental stresses that limits the growth and production of agricultural products worldwide. Nowadays, the use of biostimulants in agriculture to enhance plant growth and performance under abiotic stresses has attracted considerable attention. Accordingly, in order to investigate the effect of vegetal protein hydrolysates (VPHs) application (as foliar application at concentrations of 2 and 4 ml L-1, fertigation at concentrations of 1.5 and 3 ml L-1, and control without protein application) under drought stress conditions (40, 70 and 100% of field capacity) on some morphological, physiological and phytochemical characteristics of sage (Salvia officinalis), a pot experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment in completely randomized design with three replications. The results showed that drought stress reduced plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, leaf and stem fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration, leaf nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content, essential oil content and yield. However, the use of VPHs, improved growth indices, photosynthetic pigments and parameters, enhanced the uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and increased essential oil content and yield. So that in the fertigation treatment with a concentration of 3 ml L-1, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf dry weight, total chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis rate, leaf nitrogen content, essential oil content and yield increased by 52.29, 12.38, 28.94, 39.66, 21.78, 20.1, 72.48, 13.14 and 60.87 percent, respectively, compared to the treatment without protein application. The findings of this study showed that VPHs can be used as an effective biostimulant to improve growth and nutrition and increase essential oil production of medicinal plants under drought stress conditions.

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Main Subjects


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