SOME AGRONOMIC AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO Achillea asplenifolia Vent. POPULATIONS

The genus of Achillea L. consists of herbaceous plants are generally distributed in the northern hemisphere. Achillea asplenifolia and Achillea collina are the most important group of A. millefolium due to their highly effective pharmacological properties. Both species, A. asplenifolia and A. collina are distributed in the Europen flora but they don't exist in the Turkish flora. The present study aimed to determine some yield and quality characteristics of two populations, Achillea asplenifolia - 9602 and Achillea asplenifolia - 10403, belonging to Achillea asplenifolia Vent. collected from the flora of Bulgaria at Bornova and to select genotypes with high yield and quality. For this purpose a two years of field experiment was conducted in 2009 and 2010. Plant height (cm), green herbage yield (g/plant), drug herbage yield (g/plant), drug flos yield (g/plant) and essential oil content of populations were determined. Based on the results of two years of experiment minimum and maximum drug flos yield were 2 g/plant and 391.4 g/plant in Achillea asplenifolia - 9602. Essential oil rate ranged between 0.050-3.30%. Minimum and maximum drug flos yield of Achillea asplenifolia (10403) were 0 and 159.8 g/plant respectively and essential oil content ranged between 0-2.5%. A large distribution was found in both population of Achillea asplenifolia and especially population Achillea asplenifolia - 9602 was more remarkable and promising for selection studies.