Growth and Nutritional Qualities of Three Ocimum Species As Affected By Methods of Propagation (Published)
Ocimum species are well known for their medicinal values and this have caused increase in their demand by individual and many pharmaceutical industries. In order to meet the demand for this plant species three different Ocimum species (Ocimum basilicum, Ocimum gratissimum and Ocimum americanum) were propagated by different methods (stem cutting and seed) and were evaluated for their morphometric characters after 6 six and eight weeks. The chlorophyll content, proximate composition and phytochemicals content of the plants were also determined. The result obtained showed that Ocimum species propagated through stem performed better than the seeds. The results also revealed that there were strong correlation between the plants height and other morphometric characters. Also, the Ocimum species propagated by seed contained more phytochemicals than those propagated by stem. However, O. gratissimum propagated by stem cutting appeared to perform better than the other two Ocimum species in term of plant height, leaf number, stem girth and number of branches.
Keywords: Growth, Nutrition, Ocimum, Propagation