Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rates on growth and oil yield of Java lemongrass (Cymbopogon winterianus Jawitt) in Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City

Java lemongrass is commonly cultivated in Vietnam for the use

in industries and traditional medicine. Currently, the application

of fertilizer, especially nitrogen fertilizer, is one of the most

traditional farm practices to increase production yield. A single

factorial experiment was carried out in a completely randomized

design, three replications to determine the suitability of nitrogen

fertilizer rates on growth, leaf and oil yields of Java lemongrass.

Six treatments were used in this experiment including 90, 120,

150, 180, 210, 240 kg N/ha and applying 90 kg N/ha as control.

Fertilizer base for treatments (for 1 ha) included 20 tons of cow

dung compost, 60 kg P2O5 and 60 kg K2O. The application of

120 kg N/ha significantly improved the growth of Java lemongrass as plant height (97.0 cm/plant), average number of leaves (197.1 leaves/plant), average weight of leaves per plant (198.7

g/plant), fully leaf yield (9.4 tons/ha/2 harvest times), essential oil

content (1.0% FW) and economic oil yield (97.8 kg/ha/2 harvests).