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Influence of Substrate and Fertilization on the Growth, Development and Chemical Composition of Sweet Violet

Sweet violet (Viola odorata L.) blooms in the spring with delicate flowers of attractive scent for which the plant is often collected from its natural habitats, while in decorative horticulture it is used for cutting and for planting in gardens. The plant is entirely edible and has medicinal properties, so there are many possibilities of its application for nutritional, pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes. To improve its cultivation, special attention should be paid to the substrate (those based on peat provide better results than those based on soil) and fertilization (nitrogen affects the foliage mass, and phosphorus, calcium and magnesium affect the quality). In order to obtain further information about the selection of the most favourable substrate and the optimal dose of fertilizer, a research with five different types of substrates, garden and natural habitat soil, and four versions of fertilization has been conducted. By chemical analysis of the soil and substrates it has been determined that the soil is a medium with less organic matter, a higher pH value and well supplied with potassium. Fertilization has been conducted on two occasions with the “Kristalon” fertilizer in different concentrations. During the research some morphometrical properties such as plant height, plant diameter, the number of leaves before and after fertilization have been measured. The results showed that the higher organic matter content and lower pH resulted in a lower height and smaller plant diameter, while the plants had a greater number of leaves. Also, the presented results showed that the diameter, height and leaf number of sweet violet plants were significantly greater when using higher doses of fertilizer. By selecting the most favourable medium with optimum fertilization we can indirectly reduce the destruction of this species on its natural habitats as an ornamental and nutritionally valuable plant, and make it commercially interesting.

Sweet violet (Viola odorata L.), growing media, fertilizers

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