RESUMO
Fennel plant (Foeniculum vulgare, Mill.) is one of most widely used plants in food and medicine. Our study aimed to show the response of fennel plants from Egypt and China planted in Egypt to foliar application of benzyladenine (BA) at various concentrations; control, 50, 100 and 150 ppm. The obtained results indicated that treated fennel plants with BA resulted in a significant increase in the vegetative growth, number of umbels/plant, fruit, yield and oil yield per plant and feddan as well as main components, total phenolic contents and antioxidant activity of essential oils compared to untreated plants. In general, the application of benzyladenine was more effective on Egyptian fennel plants than that of Chinese plants. Egyptian fennel plants gave higher values of growth, fruit yield, oil percentage and oil yield than Chinese plants. However, the major components, TPC and antioxidant activity (DPPH %) had higher values in Chinese essential oil than Egyptian essential oil. The highest values of all studied parameters were obtained by using BA at 100 ppm. GC–MS analysis of the volatile oils showed that the major components were trans-anethole followed by fenshone, ?- pinene and D-limonene, respectively for both essential oils. 100 ppm of BA gave the highest values of trans-anethole content and radical scavenging activities of oils. Therefore, we concluded that spraying fennel plants with 100 ppm BA can be used for obtaining higher vegetative growth, fruit and quantity and quality of oil.