THE EFFECT OF THE METHOD OF PLANTATION ESTABLISHMENT AND HARVESTING TIME ON SOME MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF PLANTS AND ESSENTIAL OIL CONTENT IN LOVAGE ROOTS (Levisticum officinale Koch.)

Abstract. The field studies were carried out in 2002–2004 on brown soil of loess origin. In the experiment the following methods of plantation establishment were compared: di-rect sowing in the field (control); direct sowing in the field with cover of polypropylene sheet; by seedlings from plastic house; by seedlings produced in multicell propagation trays. There were two dates of leaf cutting: in August and before root harvest (October). Plants cultivated from seedlings were significantly higher and formed greater number of leaves as well as greater weight of above and under ground parts than in the cultivation from direct seeding, but the best results were obtained in the object with seedlings pro-duced in multicell propagation trays. The use of polypropylene sheet positively affected the above ground parts of lovage, however caused significant decrease in root mass. Leaf cutting in the summer was connected with decrease in fresh root weight (by 40 % in rela-tion to plants with no leaf harvest) and essential oil content (from 0.85 to 0.52%). More active substances in lovage roots were accumulated in the plants obtained from direct seeding than from transplants