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International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture

ISSN Online: 2578-3475 ISSN Print: 2578-3467 CODEN: IJFSJ3
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ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2025.12.021

Synergistic Effect of Seaweed Extract, Humic, and Fulvic Substances on Growth, Essential Oil Yield, and Quality of Patchouli in a Semi-arid Tropical Region

Ranjith Kumar S.1,*, Jnanesha A. C.1, Puja Khare2, Ananda Kumar T. M.2, Bharathkumar S.1, Sravya K.1, C. S. Chanotiya3, Srivastava Aditya3, G. S. Chandrashekar4, R. K. Lal3,*

1Crop Production and Protection Divisional unit, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Research Centre, Boduppal, Hyderabad, Telangana 500092, India.

2Crop Production and Protection Divisional unit, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226015, India.

3CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226015, India.

4Department of Entomology, College of Horticulture, University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot, Karnataka 587104, India.

*Corresponding author: Ranjith Kumar S., R. K. Lal

Published: January 29,2026

Abstract

The cultivation of patchouli in semi-arid tropical regions is affected by various abiotic factors that hinder the production of biomass and the oil that patchouli yields. This research quantified the impact of individual and all possible combinations of seaweed extracts, humic acid, and fulvic acid on patchouli (cv. CIM-Samarth) growth, yield, essential oil quality, and economic potential. A field experiment was conducted in Hyderabad, India, from 2023 to 2025, utilizing a randomized complete block design with eight treatments and three repetitions. The treatment T8, which included triple biostimulants, showed the best performance for each of the measured parameters due to its synergistic effects. T8 surpassed all control parameters about plant height (35.5%), number of leaves (62.1%), fresh herbage yield (54.5%), and oil yield (105.7%). The T8 treatment also improved the oil quality as the oil content increased from 1.93% to 2.56%, and the patchoulol concentration increased from 19.5% to 20.2%. The principal component analyzed confirmed the symmetry of the yield with growth, as it maintained closely cohesive structures (r = 0.84-1.0). The T8 treatment provided its economic potential with the net return of 5,440.7/ha and benefit-cost ratio of 3.73, nearly doubling the profitability of the control. This integrated biostimulants approach effectively mitigates multiple abiotic stress bottlenecks, offering a sustainable and highly profitable strategy to improve patchouli production in marginal environments.

Keywords

Seaweed extractant; Humic acid; Fulvic acid; Patchouli alcohol; CIM-Samarth

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How to cite this paper

Synergistic Effect of Seaweed Extract, Humic, and Fulvic Substances on Growth, Essential Oil Yield, and Quality of Patchouli in a Semi-arid Tropical Region

How to cite this paper: Ranjith Kumar S., Jnanesha A. C., Puja Khare, Ananda Kumar T. M., Bharathkumar S., Sravya K., C. S. Chanotiya, Srivastava Aditya, G. S. Chandrashekar, R. K. Lal. (2025) Synergistic Effect of Seaweed Extract, Humic, and Fulvic Substances on Growth, Essential Oil Yield, and Quality of Patchouli in a Semi-arid Tropical Region. International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture, 9(4), 470-482.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2025.12.021

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