Lemongrass Growth, Essential Oil, and Active Substances as Affected by Water Deficit

Nourhan Mahmoud, Mahmoud A. H. Abdou, Sabri Salaheldin, Wagdi Saber Soliman
2022 Horticulturae  
Environmental stress has a major influence on the growth and quality of medicinal plants. More than half of the agricultural land worldwide suffers from a lack of water. In this study, we estimated the effect of different irrigation intervals on growth, yield, and essential oil content as well as their effect on the main compounds of the essential oil of lemongrass, Cymbopogon citratus. The major objective was to test how much irrigation consumption can be lowered without a significant impact
more » ... yield and quality properties. Water deficit led to significant decreases in growth characteristics including the number of tillers as well as fresh and dry herb yield. In addition, the relative leaf greenness decreased under water deficit, especially in plants irrigated every 20 days. In contrast, proline content increased with increasing water deficit, especially in plants irrigated every 15 and 20 days. Essential oil percentage also increased under a water deficit condition, and the highest essential oil percentage was observed in plants irrigated every 15 and 20 days. However, the yield of essential oil per plant significantly decreased due to decreasing the herb yield. GC-MS analysis identified 31 compounds, mainly geranial and neral. Geranial and neral percentage decreased under a water deficit of 10-day irrigation intervals but increased with increasing the water deficit severity at irrigation intervals of 15 and 20 days. These results suggest that the lemongrass plant was sensitive to drought. Nevertheless, the quality represented by essential oil percentage and the main active substances improved with prolonging the irrigation intervals. This study recommends increasing irrigation intervals to 10 days to maintain small decreases in the yield with higher quality. In addition, it is recommended to conduct more studies to improve the growth of lemongrass under water shortage conditions.
doi:10.3390/horticulturae8030250 doaj:2705e21e8cf9424a9777fa05ddafb64e fatcat:dn2ng5ybgrasxld5qyaqp3ihdm