EFFECTS OF SALINITY AND THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THYMUS VULGARIS AND LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA ON GROWTH, ETHYLENE PRODUCTION AND ESSENTIAL OIL CONTENTS

Figures & data

TABLE 1 Biomass, biomass increase and plant water content (PWC) in thyme and lavender plants grown alone or together and treated with 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl (means ± S.E, n = 50)

		NaCl (mM)
Species	Interactions	0	50	100
Biomass (g)
Thyme	TT	0.48±0.03 ab, A	0.24±0.02 b, B	0.20±0.02 b, B
	TL	0.48±0.05 ab, A	0.25±0.03 b, B	0.13±0.01 c, C
Lavender	TL	0.37±0.03 b, A	0.34±0.01 a, A	—
	LL	0.60±0.04 a, A	0.38±0.03 a, B	0.27±0.02 a, B
Biomass increase (%)
Thyme	TT	510.71±41.05 a, A	304.47±28.94 a, B	227.02±19.12 a, B
	TL	477.67±24.85 a, A	391.09±27.81 a, B	125.42±5.64 b, C
Lavender	TL	112.68±7.86 b, A	79.48±4.72 b, B	—
	LL	215.90±16.46 b, A	97.50±6.80 b, B	44.32±3.95 c, B
Plant water content (%)
Thyme	TT	78.08±0.64 b, A	75.48±1.23 a, A	76.67±1.87 a, A
	TL	79.65±0.55 ab, A	77.97±1.15 a, A	62.18±2.59 b, B
Lavender	TL	80.85±1.74 ab, A	82.87±0.96 a, A	—
	LL	83.63±0.62 a, A	81.28±1.43 a, A	75.78±2.97 a, B
Lowercase letters in the same column denote significant differences among interactions, while different uppercase letters in the same row denote significant differences among three salinity treatment (P<0.05, according Tukey's test). TT or LL denote thyme and lavender plants growing alone in container, while TL and LT denote thyme and lavender on the same container.

TABLE 2 Leaf mass ratio (LMR), stem mass ratio (SMR), root mass ratio (RMR), and root/part aerial ratio (RAPR) in thyme and lavender plants grown alone or together and treated with 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl (means ± S.E, n = 50)

		NaCl (mM)
Species	Interactions	0	50	100
Leaf mass ratio (%)
Thyme	TT	48.81±4.09 a, B	76.69±6.84 a, A	52.52±4.96 a, AB
	TL	55.44±4.99 a, A	58.86±5.42 a, A	38.45±2.62 b, B
Lavender	TL	72.67±1.16 b, A	69.91±0.44 a, A	—
	LL	73.26±0.99 b, A	73.49±1.94 a, A	70.09±0.51 a, A
Stem mass ratio (%)
Thyme	TT	42.83±4.03 a, B	87.62±8.36 a, A	69.55±6.01 a, AB
	TL	46.32±2.63 a, A	49.69±3.47 ab, A	53.67±2.31 a, A
Lavender	TL	9.84±0.28 b, A	10.17±0.13 b, A	—
	LL	11.09±0.57 b, A	10.54±0.95 b, A	13.29±0.46 b, A
Root mass ratio (%)
Thyme	TT	17.51±0.65 a, A	18.97±1.57 a, A	19.29±0.73 a, A
	TL	11.67±0.64 b, B	19.83±1.46 a, A	12.17±0.64 b, B
Lavender	TL	17.59±0.76 a, A	19.91±0.33 a, A	—
	LL	15.64±0.62 a, A	15.97±0.96 a, A	16.62±0.45 a, A
Root/aerial part ratio (%)
Thyme	TT	13.24±0.69 b, B	12.88±0.78 c, B	17.18±1.13 a, A
	TL	11.13±1.09 b, B	17.79±1.35 b, A	12.75±0.87 b, B
Lavender	TL	21.90±1.60 a, A	24.88±0.52 a, A	—
	LL	18.86±1.36 a, A	19.19±1.80 ab, A	20.00±1.40 a, A
Lowercase letters in the same column denote significant differences among interactions, while different uppercase letters in the same row denote significant differences among three salinity treatment (P<0.05, according Tukey's test). TT or LL denote thyme and lavender plants growing alone on container, while TL and LT denote thyme and lavender on the same container.

TABLE 3 Carbon content percentage in leaf, stem and root of thyme and lavender plants grown alone or together and treated with 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl (means ± S.E., n = 50)

		NaCl (mM)
Species	Interactions	0	50	100
Leaf
Thyme	TT	44.66±0.14 a, A	41.92±0.01 a, B	41.26±0.02 a, B
	TL	43.96±0.12 a, A	42.35±0.18 a, A	40.40±0.38 a, B
Lavender	TL	41.35±0.28 b, A	38.89±0.10 b, B	—
	LL	41.52±0.12 b, A	37.34±0.17 c, B	39.59±0.90 a, B
Stem
Thyme	TT	44.15±0.02 a, A	41.40±0.09 b, B	40.98±0.04 a, C
	TL	44.13±0.06 a, A	43.21±0.03 a, B	38.88±0.14 c, C
Lavender	TL	40.89±0.06 b, A	41.00±0.09 b, A	—
	LL	40.33±0.25 b, A	39.90±0.25 c, A	39.98±0.15 b, A
Root
Thyme	TT	40.73±0.11 a, B	39.88±0.35 b, B	41.77±0.07 a, A
	TL	40.97±0.09 a, B	41.16±0.17 a, B	41.97±0.11 a, A
Lavender	TL	40.81±0.18 a, A	40.50±0.04 ab, A	—
	LL	39.84±0.14 b, A	41.13±0.02 a, A	41.39±0.06 b, A
Lowercase letters in the same column denote significant differences among interactions, while different uppercase letters in the same row denote significant differences among three salinity treatment (P < 0.05, according Tukey's test). TT or LL denote thyme and lavender plants growing alone on container, while TL and LT denote thyme and lavender on the same container.

TABLE 4 Nitrogen content percentage in leaf, stem and root of thyme and lavender plants grown alone or together and treated with 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl (means ± S.E, n = 50)

		NaCl (mM)
Species	Interactions	0	50	100
Leaf
Thyme	TT	3.70±0.04 a, A	3.56±0.02 a, A	3.08±0.05 b, B
	TL	3.66±0.04 a, A	3.35±0.08 b, B	3.42±0.03 a, B
Lavender	TL	2.44±0.04 b, A	2.26±0.02 c, B	—
	LL	2.31±0.05 b, A	2.05±0.04 d, B	1,97±0.02 c, B
Stem
Thyme	TT	1.57±0.01 c, B	1.77±0.01 a, A	1.79±0.01 b, A
	TL	1.67±0.01 b, C	1.78±0.01 a, B	1.95±0.01 a, A
Lavender	TL	1.85±0.02 a, A	1.40±0.01 b, b	—
	LL	1.67±0.02 b, A	1.82±0.08 a, A	1.45±0.02 c, B
Root
Thyme	TT	1.96±0.03 c, B	2.27±0.07 b, A	2.21±0.03 b, A
	TL	2.20±0.02 b, A	1.86±0.03 c, B	2.26±0.05 b, A
Lavender	TL	2.66±0.05 a, A	3.05±0.03 a, B	—
	LL	2.83±0.06 a, B	3.00±0.01 a, A	2.52±0.02 a, C
Lowercase letters in the same column denote significant differences among interactions, while different uppercase letters in the same row denote significant differences among three salinity treatment (P < 0.05, according Tukey's test). TT or LL denote thyme and lavender plants growing alone on container, while TL and LT denote thyme and lavender on the same container.

TABLE 5 Ethylene production (nl g⁻¹FW h⁻¹) in leaf of thyme and lavender plants grown alone or together and treated with 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl (means ± S.E, n = 50)

		NaCl (mM)
Species	Interactions	0	50	100
Thyme Lavender	TT	30.09±2.81 a, A	17.65±1.49 a, B	17.30±1.20 b, B
	TL	14.98±1.16 b, B	18.19±0.30 a, B	24.49±1.60 a, A
	TL	4.76±0.26 c, B	6.66±0.40 b, A	—
	LL	3.47±0.37 c, B	8.22±0.47 b, A	3.88±0.30 c, B
Lowercase letters in the same column denote significant differences among interactions, while different uppercase letters in the same row denote significant differences among three salinity treatment (P < 0.05, according Tukey's test). TT or LL denote thyme and lavender plants growing alone on container, while TL and LT denote thyme and lavender on the same container.

TABLE 6 Essential oil (EO) percentage (v/w) in leaf of thyme and lavender plants grown alone or together and treated with 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl (means ± S.E, n = 50)

		NaCl (mM)
Species	Interactions	0	50	100
Thyme	TT	4.08±0.26 ab, AB	3.61±0.24 ab, B	4.71±0.23 a, A
	TL	3.55±0.39 b, B	3.47±0.27 ab, B	5.31±0.59 a, A
Lavender	TL	3.91±0.05 ab, B	4.54±0.27 a, A	—
	LL	4.95±0.37 a, A	2.90±0.22 b, B	3.15±0.37 b, B
Lowercase letters in the same column denote significant differences among interactions, while different uppercase letters in the same row denote significant differences among three salinity treatment (P < 0.05, according Tukey's test). TT or LL denote thyme and lavender plants growing alone on container, while TL and LT denote thyme and lavender on the same container.