Effect of different level water and nitrogen on morphological and physiological traits of Matricaria aurea L.

Background & Aim: Matricaria aure is one of medicinal plants belonging to Asteraceae family. They naturally grow in some regions of the country and have different medical properties and various applications in medicine production and traditional medications. Ecological conditions have a significant impact on growth, performance, and quality of medical plants. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of two important ecological factors (nitrogen and water) on the growth, performance and essential oil from Matricaria aure. Experimental: The present research has been carried out at the researches centre of medical plants in Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, in 2008. In this research, the factorial experiment with completely random bases and three replications were used. Five different levels of nitrogen (0, 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 mg/pot) and three levels of irrigation (0, 25, and 50 % depletion of the soil moisture) were studied. Results & Discussion: The result of analysis of variance of the experiment for Matricaria aurea showed that different levels of nitrogen do have significant impacts on the plant height, chlorophyll content, total dry matter and % essential oil.  Also, the impact of different levels of water on all characteristics was significant. Industrial and practical recommendations: The findings of this research indicated that the appropriate nutrition of nitrogen and not receiving drought stress can boost the essence production in Matricaria aure.