A nutritional study was carried out on thyme Thymus vulgaris, L. plants at the
Farms of Agric. Research Center in EL-Baramon (Mansoura) and in the Laboratory of
the Veg.& Flori. Dept., Fac. of Agric. Mansoura Univ. during the two seasons of (2001
and 2002). The investigation was planed to study the effect of nitrobein (2kg/fed.) and
phosphorein (2kg/fed.), nitrobein (2kg/fed.) plus calcium super phosphate
(150kg/fed.), phosphorein (2kg/fed.) plus ammonium sulphate (300kg/fed.) and
calcium super phosphate(150kg/fed.) plus ammonium sulphate (300kg/fed.) on the
vegetative growth, and yield of leaves and essential oil of thyme plant. Data were
collected on plant height, number of branches/plant and fresh and dry weight of herb
and leaves. In addition, essential oil of dry leaves was extracted and determined, and
the thymol concentration in the essential oil was measured using G.L.C. separation.
Chemical composition (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and total carbohydrate),
percentages in dry leaves were also measured. The results showed that in both seasons, all fertilizer treatments produced
significantly better growth and yield than the untreated control. Treatments included
phosphorein (phosphorein plus ammonium sulphate and nitrobein plus phosphorein)
produced the tallest plants, the highest number of branches, highest fresh and dry
weights of herb and leaves per plant, and the highest yield of dry leaves per feddan,
followed by nitrobein plus calcium superphosphate treatment, while inorganic fertilizer
only treatment was the least in all parameters. The results also showed that the highest essential oil percentage in the dry
leaves and thymol ( main constituent) content along with the highest yield of the
essential oil per feddan in both seasons were produced by nitrobein plus calcium
superphosphate treatment, which also resulted the highest percentages of
phosphorus, potassium and total carbohydrates in dry leaves of thyme plants.
Although the treatments included biofertilizers did not significantly differ in the yield of
the dry leaves or the essential oil among each other, they were significantly better
than using mineral fertilizers alone.