Abstract
This study was carried out, to examine the effect of different air temperature (15 and 27 +/- 3 degrees C) with three levels of soil moisture (70%, 80%and 90% of field capacity) on production of Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L) plants. The obtained results showed that, plant growth i.e., plant height (cm), branches number, fresh and dry weight of shoots were decreased with geranium plants acclimatized under conditions of low air temperature and high soil moisture. Physiological characters like chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and total carotenoids contents indicated the effect of 27 degrees C temperature with soil moisture70% and increased in geranium plants than in those acclimatized under 15 degrees C temperature and different % of soil moisture.
The extracted essential oils were analyzed using GC/MS. The major compounds in essential oils of geranium were geraniol (36%) and citronellol (18.%) at an air temperature 27 +/- 3 degrees C and levels of soil moisture (70%) compared with geraniol (17%) and citronellol (8%) at an air temperature 15 +/- 3 degrees C) at a soil moisture level of 70%.