ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Assessing Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria and Mineral
Nitrogen Fertilization Regimes for Boosting
Growth, Photosynthesis, and Essential Oil
Production of Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea L.)
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1
Soil Microbiology Department, Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
2
Department of Research Centers, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, United States
3
Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston LA 71270, United States
4
Mustafa Kemal University, Agriculture Faculty, Department of Food Engineering, Hatay, Turkey
5
Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh
11451, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Agronomy, Hajee Mohamad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur-5200, Bangladesh
7
Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Siirt University, Siirt, Turkey
8
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt
Submission date: 2024-05-29
Final revision date: 2024-08-27
Acceptance date: 2024-11-07
Online publication date: 2025-01-22
Corresponding author
Magdi T. Abdelhamid
Department of Research Centers, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, United States
Muhammad Aamir Iqbal
Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston LA 71270, United States, United States
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ABSTRACT
Clary sage (Salvia sclarea L.) is a valuable medicinal biennial herb, and its oil is characterized by
an ambergris scent and finds uses as a spice and a vital ingredient of cosmeceutical products such as
perfumes, soaps, cosmetics, and aromatherapy. However, its scale of production has remained far below
its potential, especially owing to inappropriate plant nutrition management. To bridge this research
gap, a field experiment was conducted to comparatively assess the mineral nitrogen (N) fertilizer doses
(120 and 60 kg N ha−1) and nitrogen-fixing bacteria (NFB, including azotobacter, chroococcum, and
cyanobacteria) for boosting the growth, yield, oil content, and primary essential oil composition of
clary sage plants. The results revealed that the higher dose of N applied in conjunction with azotobacter
and cyanobacteria recorded the highest concentration of macro and micronutrients in clary sage plants,
except for iron content. Additionally, the same treatment exhibited unmatched photosynthetic efficiency
as demonstrated by significantly higher NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index), SPAD (soil
plant analysis development), and chlorophyll fluorescence values, which resulted in the highest leaf area and shoot dry weight of plants. Moreover, this treatment also remained superior by recording the
maximum concentration of essential oils, particularly α-pinene, camphene, β-pinene, limonene, and
linalool contents. Thus, clary sage production with superior growth potential, higher photosynthetic
activity, and essential oil productivity might be achieved with the co-application of mineral N fertilizer
(120 kg ha−1) and NFB (Azotobacter and Cyanobacteria).