Effect of plant’s alimentation area on productivity of Oregano plants (Origanum vulgare L.) under conditions of a drip irrigation

Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) – is a perennial medicinal plant, its medicinal raw material is the aerial part collected in the flowering phase. When laying industrial plantations of oregano, the seedling method of propagation is mainly used, since after germination the plants slowly develop and compete weakly with weeds. The condition for survival of seedlings is high soil moisture, which can be achieved only with its artificial wetting - irrigation. An analysis of the literature indicates that today the issue of the cultivation pattern and nutrition area of oregano in the conditions of drip irrigation is not well understood. The aim of the conducted experimental studies was to establish the influence of the method of growing seedlings and plant's alimentationon area on the growth and development of oregano under drip irrigation. The main research method is a field experiment, supplemented by analytical and static data processing methods. According to research's results, it has been established that an increase in the area of plant nutrition contributes to an increase in the mass of the aerial parts and the area of leaves, and also reduces the height of plants during both the first and second years of vegetation. It was proved that the most favorable conditions for plant's growth and development under the conditions of drip irrigation were in the variant with the largest nutrition area with planting density of 41,7 thousand plants·ha-1 (60x40 cm pattern). The mass of the aerial parts of plants with this method of growing in the first year of vegetation was 110,5-133,0 g ·plant-1 with the largest leaf area – 0,287-0,346 m2·plant-1 and 218,1-328,7 g ·plant-1, 0,568-0,855 m2·plant-1, respectively - in the second year of vegetation. The maximum height of plants – 37,0-37,7 cm in the first year of plant vegetation and 68,5-72,6 cm in the second year of vegetation was established in the variants with the smallest plant nutrition area: with a growing scheme of 60x10 cm (166,7 thousand ·ha-1). The smallest plant's height in the first year of vegetation was 31,1-33,5 cm, in the second year – 37,5-48,4 cm in the variant of growing scheme 60x40 cm (41,7 thousand plants ·ha-1). When studying the influence of the method of growing seedlings on the mass of the aerial part and the area of leaves, their high parameters were found in variants with the laying of seedlings from spring sowing cassettes, where the mass of the aerial part was 103,8 g / plant with a leaf area of 0,236 m2 ·plant-1. The minimum weight of the aerial part is 92,3 g·plant-1 with a leaf area of 0,210 m2 ·plant-1 was found in variants with seedlings on cassettes from the autumn sowing period.