Effect of Different Fertilizers on Crop Growth, Oil yield and Chemical Composition of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citrates (DC.) Stapf)

Purpose: Lemongrass (Cymbopogan citrates (DC) Stapf ) is ranked among the top ten oil bearing crops in the world and the essential oils of lemongrass are widely used in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and flavor, agriculture industries and possess an array of medicinal uses. Aromatic grasses respond well to application of manures and fertilizers. However, farmers do not use fertilizer. Therefore, it is very important to find out the possibility to increase oil yield and improve the quality of essential oil by applying inorganic and organic fertilizer. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the effect of fertilizers on crop growth, bio mass production, oil yield and chemical composition of Lemongrass. Research Method: Three different fertilizer mixtures (F1 :compost only, F2: inorganic fertilizer (urea, triple super phosphate and muriate of potash at the rate of 278, 296 and 175kg/ha respectively) and F3: inorganic fertilizer + Compost) were used with (F0) control (without fertilizer). Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used as the experimental design. Number of leaves, tillers and plant height (cm) were recorded. Oil yield and chemical composition of five months old plants were evaluated. Essential oil was extracted by hydro distillation and chemical composition of essential oil was analyzed by Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. Findings: Highest herbage yield (15.94 t ha-), dry matter yield (4.82 t ha-) and oil yield (fresh w gt. basis) (59.16 kg ha-) were recorded in the treatment of F3 (Compost 106.5g: Urea 2.96g: TSP 3.15g: MOP 1.86g per plant). Citral, beta- Citral, Geraniol, alpha Pinene, cis - Verbenol were major chemical compounds identified in oil. Research Limitations: The study focused on whether there were benefits of using organic and inorganic fertilizers for lemongrass cultivation. However, the research was done only for a limited number of fertilizer mixtures. Further research with different fertilizer mixtures will offer most suitable mixture of fertilizers. Originality/Value: Present study revealed that, application of inorganic fertilizer along with compost result best growth performances and highest oil yield with high quantities of economically important major chemical constituents in lemongrass.