# Effect of Biostimulants on the Yield and Quality of Selected Herbs
## 3 Results and Discussion  
Differences in the growth rate and yields of the analyzed herb species are presented in Table 1 and Figure 1. Lemon balm was characterized by the significantly highest fresh herbage weight per pot (27.8 g). At the time of harvest, summer savory plants were the tallest, and marjoram plants were the shortest. The use of the Maximus Amino Protect biostimulant in the cultivation of the tested plant species has a positive effect on the height and weight of plants, increasing them by 3.4% and 1.4%, respectively, on average. When applied in small concentrations, these substances enhance nutrition efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance, and/or crop quality traits, regardless of their nutrient content. Exogenously applied biostimulants have a similar mode of action to that of plant hormones such as auxins, gibberellins, and cytokins [26]. Similar results can be obtained by cultivating garden savory [10] and bell peppers [27] at different rates of nitrogen-potassium fertilizers. According to [PERSON] et al. [28], NPK and amino acids have a pronounced effect on all tested parameters (fresh and dry herbage of _Satureja hotensis_ L., essential oil content and its constituents). The use of an appropriate biostimulant can improve the vitality of roots and shoots, thus increasing crop yields. The total fresh herbage yield was 1.07 kg m\({}^{-2}\) (_Satureja hotensis_ L.), 1.35 kg m\({}^{-2}\) (_Origanum majorana_ L.), and 1.73 kg m\({}^{-2}\) (_Melissa officinalis_ L.) on average. Crop yield is significantly affected by the cultivated species. The obtained results corroborate the findings of other authors, indicating that plants characterized by different growth rates of aboveground and underground organs may differ in the yield of edible parts [10,15]. There are differences in the chemical composition of the analyzed herb species (Table 2, Figure 2). According to other authors, DM content is highest in marjoram (20.4%), savory, lemon balm, hysso, and chervil (16.4% on average), and lowest in basil and tarragon (12.9% on average) [29]. Fresh herb species tested in this experiment had a relatively low DM content ranging from 12.2% in _Satureja hotensis_ L. to 16.3% in _Origanum majorana_ L. Biostimulants had no significant effect on the DM content of the analyzed herbs. Similar DM content was reported by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [30] with 9.4% on average in sweet basil and lemon balm, [PERSON] et al. [13,31] with 22.1 to 26.0% in lemon balm, and [PERSON] et al. [15] with 13.5 to 17.4% in lemon balm and 11.9 to 17.1% in marjoram, depending on the sowing date and pot size. In a study by [PERSON] et al. [32], summer savory and marjoram had higher DM contents (21.4% and 30.3%, respectively). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Factor** & **Plant Height** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Fresh Herbage** \\ **Weight per Pot** \\ \end{tabular} & **Yield** \\ \hline Treatment (A) & 0.922 & 0.991 & 0.991 \\ Species (B) & \textless{}0.001 & \textless{}0.001 & \textless{}0.001 \\ Interaction (A \(\times\) B) & 0.834 & 0.351 & 0.351 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: \(p\)-Value of ANOVA for plant height, fresh herbage weight, and yield in the analyzed herb species. There were no statistically significant differences in the content of total sugars and reducing sugars between the tested herb species; the content of total sugars ranged from 0.52 to 1.61 g 100 g\({}^{-1}\) FM, and the content of reducing sugars ranged from 0.31 to 1.01 g 100 g\({}^{-1}\) FM. The concentrations of total sugars and reducing sugars were the highest in majoram herbage and the lowest in summer savory herbage. [PERSON] et al. (2015) reported similar concentrations of total sugars and reducing sugars, i.e., 0.56-1.49 and 0.25-0.32 g 100 g\({}^{-1}\) FM, respectively, in lemon balm, and 0.93-1.00 and 0.17-0.42 g 100 g\({}^{-1}\) FM, respectively, in marjoram.