BIOFERTILIZER-MEDIATED GROWTH ENHANCEMENT OF HYPERICUM PERFORATUM L. UNDER SUBSTRATE-BASED HYDROPONIC CULTIVATION
Abstract
Controlled-environment cultivation offers a reproducible strategy for producing medicinal plants with stable biomass and predictable raw-material quality. This study evaluated the vegetative performance of Hypericum perforatum L. grown for 12 weeks in a substrate-based hydroponic system under constant room temperature, full-spectrum LED illumination and a 2-3 day irrigation interval. Twenty experimental units were arranged across two substrates, coconut coir and mineral soil, and exposed either to an untreated control regime or to a biofertilizer treatment consisting of calcium nitrate and a Pseudomonas sp. bacterial preparation. Irrigation volume was tested at 150, 100 and 50 mL per watering event. Plant height, leaf number, stem length, stem fresh mass, root length, root fresh mass, total fresh biomass and total dry biomass were measured at harvest. Biofertilizer treatment significantly improved all recorded growth parameters, with the strongest effects observed for total fresh biomass (p = 0.0004), plant height (p = 0.0006) and leaf number (p = 0.0007). Compared with untreated controls, treated plants showed increases of 34.2% in height, 51.1% in leaf number, 113.4% in fresh biomass and 89.7% in dry biomass. Coconut coir produced numerically higher means than soil for most aboveground variables, although substrate effects did not reach p < 0.05. Irrigation volume influenced root architecture, with root length showing a significant response (p = 0.0257). The results indicate that combined mineral and microbial biofertilizer application can markedly improve early vegetative productivity of H. perforatum under controlled hydroponic conditions.