The Use of Organic Fertilizers to Improve the Growth of Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Background: The use of organic fertilizers in medicinal plant production has grown because these fertilizers enhance plant growth while maintaining environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. The economic value of peppermint as a medicinal and aromatic plant remains unstudied because researchers have not yet examined its plant growth response to various organic fertilizer types through greenhouse research. Methods: The research investigated peppermint growth responses to four fertilizer treatments, which included Control Compost and Vermicompost and Chicken Manure, throughout an eight-week greenhouse study. The study implemented a completely randomized design which included 12 replicates for each treatment group (n = 48). The researchers assessed six plant metrics which included plant height, leaf count, fresh weight, dry weight and chlorophyll content (SPAD) and root length. The data analysis used one-way ANOVA with Tukey's HSD test for comparison in SPSS v.28, where researchers established statistical significance at p < 0.05 level. Result: All measured traits showed significant differences between treatments that included plant height and leaf number and fresh weight and dry weight and chlorophyll content and root length. The highest mean values for most growth parameters were produced by vermicompost. Chicken manure promoted strong growth responses but showed greater variability in results. The compost treatment showed improved growth compared to the control group but its impact was less than what we had anticipated. Conclusion: The findings show that organic fertilizers lead to significant improvements in peppermint plant growth with vermicompost demonstrating the most reliable and effective results. The results demonstrate that vermicompost functions as a sustainable greenhouse medicinal plant production input which shows high potential for success.