Influence of sources and doses of N and K on herbage, oil yield and nutrient uptake of patchouli [Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth.] in semi-arid tropics

Patchouli oil is one of the most important essential oils used in modern perfumery and cosmetic industries. There is hardly any preparation of oriental nature where patchouli oil is not used. it is used mainly because of fixative property as it gives tenacity to other perfumes. Field experiments were conducted at Bangalore, India, to study the influence of sources and doses of N and K on herbage, oil yield, nutrient uptake, nitrogen utilization efficiency and oil content of patchouli [Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth.]. The results revealed that application of 200 kg N/ha and 41.5 kg K/ha produced significant higher patchouli herbage and oil yields compared with controls, Similarly, N and K uptake were also higher at 200 kg N and 41.S kg K/(ha year) compared with controls. DCD-coated urea produced higher herbage, oil yield and N uptake and utilization efficiency compared with prilled urea. There was no effect of sources of K on the yield of patchouli. The oil content was not influenced by N, K doses or sources applied. N and K depletion were noticed in the soil. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.