RESPONSE OF SWEET BASIL PLANTS TO SPRAYING WITH CHITOSAN AND PROLINE GROWN IN SALINE SOIL

A field experiment was conducted with sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum, L.) throughout two successive seasons of 2022 and 2023 in the Eastern Desert of Minya Governorate to evaluate the response of basil plants to spraying with chitosan and proline under saline soil conditions on its production and quality traits. Treatments consisted of three rates of chitosan (0.25, o.5 and 1 g l-1) and three rates of proline (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g l-1) compared with untreated plants in a complete randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that chitosan treatments and proline levels affected growth characteristics, i.e., plant height, branch numbers, fresh and dry herb weight as well as essential oil content and oil constituents. Maximum herb dry weight was obtained with chitosan treatment at 1 g l-1 (78.80, 77.70 g), followed by proline at 0.4 g l-1 (77.10 and 72.60 g, respectively in the first and second seasons). Moreover, spraying plants with proline at 0.4 g l-1 recorded the highest content of linalool (68.0 and 66.4%, respectively for the two seasons), followed by chitosan at 1 g l-1 (66.3 and 64.2%). In conclusion, it is recommended to apply proline at 0.4 g l-1 and chitosan at 1 g l-1 to improve yield and quality of basil plants grown in saline soil.