Effect of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles on Essential Oil Quantity and Quality in Thymus vulgaris under Water Deficit

The aim of this study was to evaluate effect of foliar application of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on quantitative traits and essential oil, thymol and carvacrol percent of thyme under different levels of water stress. Factorial experiment was used based on a completely randomized design with four replications. Factors included water stress (50, 70 and 90% of field capacity) and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (0, 1 and 3 mg/l). Plant height, number of branches, fresh and dry weight of shoot, fresh and dry weight of root and also essential oils (thymol and carvacrol) content were measured using standard compounds by GC-Mass. Results showed that the water deficit affects significantly (P