Abstract:
Alkaloids of diferent plant,
including many Solanaceae species,
constitute important natural sources for
variety of pharmaceutical products. The
amounts of various secondary plant
products are strongly dependent on the
growing conditions and agronomical
applications such as planting date,
fertilization, irrigation etc. The aim of this
was to study the effects of sowing date on
some agronomic characteristics and total
alkaloid content of thorn apple (Datura
stramonium), investigated in the
environmental conditions from Dicle
University, Agricultural Faculty, Field
Crops Department experimental area, during
2010 and 2011 growing years. In the
research, plant height, stem diameter,
number of branches per plant, number of
capsule per plant, capsule width, capsule
length, 1000-seed weight, fresh herb yield,
herba yield, seed yield and total alkaloid
content were examined. At the end of the
study, in the trial of thorn apple with sowing
dates, according to two years mean, seed
yield, fresh herb yield, dry herb yield and
total alkaloid yield were changed between
335 kg ha-1 and 704 kg ha-1, 5933 and 20537
kg ha-1, 1613 kg ha-1 and 4800 kg ha-1, and
0.270% and 0.391%, respectively. The
effect of sowing date was found significant
on the investigated characteristics, when
sowing delayed, agronomic characteristics
were also decreased. The highest values
related with seed yield, fresh and dry
herbage of thorn apple were obtained
sowing of 01 Apr. Moreover, thorn apple
plant showed morphogenetic variation when
compared leaf and seed alkaloid contents.
