PJB-2017-664
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESPONSE OF MILK THISTLE TO APPLICATION OF HUMIC ACID AND MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI
FOROOZAN NIK KHAH NAEENI1
Abstract
Although the contribution of bio-stimulants to crop yield has been well documented however, few studies have been carried out about their effects on medicinal plants. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of humic acid (HA) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on milk thistle using multivariate statistical analyses. First, thistle seeds were inoculated with two species of AMF. The seeds were then sown in pots in greenhouse and were irrigated by 4 different HA concentrations. After reaching the necessary growth, the plants were evaluated for some quantitative and qualitative traits. Results of cluster analysis showed that the combination of AMF and HA resulted in increased morphological characteristics as well as yield and yield components especially, when the plants were irrigated with 75 g·l-1 of HA. Also, the content of plant pigments increased remarkably. However, the antioxidant enzyme activity and silibinin content were reduced. It seems that application of AMF+ HA reduced environment stresses through creating a suitable environment for growth, which resulted in decreased antioxidant enzyme activity and silibinin content of the leaves.
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