~9~ Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies 2016; 4(2): 09-12 ISSN 2320-3862 JMPS 2016; 4(2): 09-12 © 2016 JMPS Received: 15-01-2016 Accepted: 18-02-2016 Hamed Mabudi Bilasvar Department of Plant Ecophysiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz. Iran Saeid Zehtab Salmasi Department of Plant Ecophysiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz. Iran Correspondence Hamed Mabudi Bilasvar Department of Plant Ecophysiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz. Iran Essential oil yield and some morphological characteristics of sweet basil cultivars affected by different intercropping patterns with corn Hamed Mabudi Bilasvar, Saeid Zehtab Salmasi Abstract An experiment on randomized complete block design with three replications were carried out to investigate the impact of different intercropping systems (sweet basil cultivars; Mobarake and Italian large leaf sole cropping (40 plants m -2 ) and the additive intercropping of sweet basil cultivars + corn (20 + 8, 30 + 8 and 40 + 8 plants m -2 ) on some sweet basil cultivars morphological traits and essential oil yield in 2014. Results showed that maximum plant height, number of leaf and lateral branch, plant dry weight and essential oil yield of both Mobarake and Italian large leaf were recorded under sole cropping pattern. With increasing density of sweet basil from 20 up to 40 plants m -2 in intercropping with corn, plant height, number of leaf and lateral branch in both Mobarake and Italian large leaf cultivars decreased. However, plant dry weight and essential oil yield slightly increased with increasing density of sweet basil from 20 up to 40 plants m -2 . Although, corn intercropping with sweet basil cultivars had reducing effects on morphological characteristics and also essential oil yield of sweet basil plants, but in additive intercropping patterns as a drug forage system we can use these sweet basil cultivars. Keywords: corn, drug forage essential oil, intercropping, sweet basil 1. Introduction Intercropping may be a useful strategy to grow crops simultaneously, offering to improve resource utilization such as solar radiation, nutrients and water during growth and development. This is also an important method for sustainable crop production, particularly when inputs are limited (Agegnehu et al., 2006) [2] . Plant mixtures can be formed by adding together the plant populations used in the pure stands (Agboola and Fayemi, 1971) [1] . This means that in such additive intercropping systems the total plant population of the mixtures is doubled when two crops are intercropped in this manner (Ebwongu et al., 2001) [6] . In other words, an inherent feature of additive intercropping is that the total plant population of the mixture is greater than that of the pure stands, which may contribute to its yield advantage (Willey and Osiru, 1972) [15] . Medicinal plants are looked upon not only as a source of affordable health care products but also as a source of income. There is a growing demand for plant based medicines, health products, essential oils, fragrances, cosmetics and natural aroma chemicals in the national and international markets (Sujatha and Bhat, 2010) [13] . Cultivation of medicinal plants has several advantages like higher net returns per unit area, low incidence of pests and diseases, improvement of degraded and marginal soils, longer shelf life of end products and foreign exchange earning potential (Rao et al., 2004) [12] . Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) belong to the family Lamiaceae is an important medicinal plant and culinary herb which is used in treatment of headaches, diarrhea, coughs, warts, worms and kidney malfunctions (Bais et al., 2002; Rai et al., 2004) [5, 11] . Corn is used for human food, livestock feed and as a source of industrial raw material for the production of oil, alcohol and starch (Muoneke et al., 2007) [8] . This plant is used in different intercropping systems, but the effect of different intercropping systems between sweet basil cultivars and corn plants is unclear. Therefore, this research was aimed to evaluate the effects of different intercropping systems on some morphological characteristic and essential oil yield of sweet basil cultivars in intercropping with corn. 2. Materials and methods In order to evaluate the effects of different intercropping systems (sweet basil cultivars; Mobarake and Italian large leaf sole cropping (40 plants m -2 ) and the additive intercropping of