Basil (Ocimum sp.), belonging to the mint family, Lamiaceae (Labiatae), is a popular herb grown for the fresh market or for its dried aromatic leaves, which are used as a spice or in potpourris. In Asian countries, basil, particularly O. tenuiflorum, is better known as a medicinal plant species used for treating ailments ranging from colds to complex diseases such as cancers and diabetes. In the United States, however, it has a limited acceptance as a fresh-market herb. There is much potential for developing basil as a medicinal plant to cater to the growing herbal medicinal products industry. A field trial was therefore conducted to determine optimum date of planting basil in Alabama. Six-week-old seedlings were transplanted from the greenhouse into field plots arranged in a split-plot design with four replications. Planting dates at monthly intervals beginning in April were the main plots and three Ocimum accessions, Ames 23154, Ames 23155, and PI 288779 were sub-plot treatments. The accessions were compared for growth, leaf area development, light interception, canopy cover, and dry matter accumulation and partitioning pattern over planting dates. Ames 23154, with greater canopy cover (98.5%) and photosynthetically active radiation interception (96.1%), also produced higher total plant biomass than other accessions. Accession PI 288779 appeared to partition greater dry matter to leaves, which are the primary source of bioactive compounds in basil. Among planting dates, second (May) date of planting appeared to be optimum for both total biomass and leaf dry matter production. Genotypic variation f or dry-matter partitioning and relationships among agronomic parameters as influenced by planting date will be discussed in this presentation.
Dry matter accumulation and remobilization in winter barley as affected by genotype and sowing date
