Determination of variability of essential oil content, components and agricultural characterization during flowering period of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) plant cultivated in Bursa ecological conditions

This research was carried out to determine the changes in the agricultural characteristics, essential oil ratio and components of the basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) at different growth periods in 2019. The field trial was established according to factorial arragement in randomized complete block design with three replications in the Agricultural Application and Research Center, Agricultural Faculty, Bursa Uludağ University. In the experiment, the stages of the flowering period were investigated and 6 different periods were examined. For this purpose, starting from the beginning of flowering, 2 harvest were made with 10-day intervals. As a result of this research, plant height, plant diameter, flower spike size, green herb, dry herb,dry leaf,dry flower, dry stem yield as total, essential oil yield in leaf, flower and stem as total between 31,39-55,82 cm, 18,67-31,88 cm, 5,85-20,14 cm, 751,44-2592,92 kg/da, 101.81-503.04 kg/da, 77,99-169,90 kg/da, 3,56-230,37 kg/da, 23,27-146,42 kg/da, 0,13-0,85 kg/da, 0,06-2,25 kg/da and 0,02-0,07 kg/da were determined. Essential oil ratios were recorded between 0.46-0.63% in the leaf, 0.69-1.77 % in the flower and 0.038-0.082 % in the stem. Linalool, b-element, eugenol and 1,8 cineol were the main components in essential oil.Generally, the 1st harvest had higher values than the 2nd harvest in all the properties examined. As a result of this research, it was determined that the 3rd and 4th periods came to the fore in terms of examined yield characteristics in general.It was noted that the content of essential oil in leaves was higher in the 1stharvest than in the 2ndharvest, while the essential oil content in the flower and stem decreased in both 1st and 2nd harvests with the progression of the periods.