摘要
Sweet basil （Ocimum basilicum L.） is a popular culinary herbal crop grown for the fresh or dry leaf, essential oil and seed markets. Recently, basil has been shown to rank highest among spices and herbal crops for xanthophyll carotenoids, which are associated with a decreased risk of cancer and age-related eye diseases. Nitrogen fertilizer encourages vegetative growth and increases oil yield in aromatic plants by enhancing leaf area development and photosynthetic rate. Our goal was to determine the influence of different concentrations of nitrogen （N） fertilization on basil physiology. The trial examined the cultivation of Ocimum basilicum L. （variety Genovese gigante）. The experiment was carried out under Mediterranean climatic conditions. The experiment considered the adoption of three nitrogen （N） treatments （0, 160, 240 kg N ha-1）. The following biometric parameters were determined： plant height, leaves per plant, leaf to stem ratio, number of branchings per plant, leaf area index （LAI）, above-ground fresh and leaf biomass. Considering the parameters most strictly linked to the economic results （total fresh weight, fresh weight of the leaves and total dry weight）, we found that 160 kg N ha^-1 treatment showed the best performance.
