Influence of selenium on the yield and quality of chamomile [Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rausch.]

The influence of the different doses of selenium (Se) on the yield and quality of chamomile [Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rausch.] was investigated. Special attention was paid to the essential oil content, as well as to the mutual relationship between some of the oil components (chamazulene, bisabolol, bisabolol oxide). Se was applied by foliar spraying, ten days before the harvest, as the Na2SeO4 solution, in the following doses: 0, 100 and 500 g Se/ha. It was found that the applied doses of Se did not influence the formation of dry chamomile flowers yield. Also, the influence of Se on the content of essential oil was not observed (average oil content in all treatments was 0.33%). However, the applied Se caused the significant increase of the content of bisabolol oxide A and B, followed by the decrease of the chamazulene content in the chamomile essential oil. Beside that, significant increase of Se content in the chamomile flowers (12.9 to 53.6 ppm) has also been observed.