APPLIED ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, vol.19, no.4, pp.3115-3136, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
The effects of global warming and climate change are felt around the world, and 2020 was the second hottest year ever. In the current study, basil cultivars (cinnamon, purple, lemon) were examined at different planting (1 April, 15 April, and 30 April) and cutting times (4 July and 25 August) under hot field conditions in Turkey. A wide range of significant variations were obtained among the cultivars for traits like plant height (34.96-47.98 cm), flower length (5.93-10.22 cm), number of flowers per plant (5.94-28.63), fresh herbage yield (2565.06-10787.27 kg ha(-1)), dry herbage yield (431.29-1756.57 kg ha(-1)), leaves essential oil rate (1.04-2.32 ml/100 g), and flower essential oil rate (1.20-2.61 ml/100 g). Sixty-five components were found, representing 82.29-98.50% of the total essential oil. The components differed according to the leaves and flowers. Main essential oil components varied based on the cultivars; methyl cinnamate (22.03-44.08%) for cinnamon basil, linalool (23.68-46.47%) for purple basil, and citral (26.26-44.43%) for lemon basil. Consequently, although more than two cuttings can be made depending on the region where basil is grown, in our region where climate change is felt more clearly, it did not show rapid growth and allowed just two cuttings.