الفهرس 
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Abstract
This work was carried out in the Department of Floriculture, Fac. Agric., Mansoura Univ. in the two successive summer seasons (2007 and 2008). It aimed to evaluate the long-term effect of cuts and various drying methods (room temperature, air circulation and oven at 50ºC) on plant growth, yield of herb, leaves and volatile oil. Also to study the effect of storage methods (cotton bags, jute sacks and carton boxes) on volatile oil % and its composition during the storage period (0, 2, 4, 6 months). Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) plant Fam. Lamiaceae is an important aromatic plant, which can be used in many medicinal purposes. Nevertheless, just as other leafy herbs basil cannot be kept for long periods after harvesting and thevolatile oil content and quality can be reduced during postharvest. The results can be summarized as follows:- I. Effect of cuts : 1. The 3rd cut produced the heaviest fresh and dry weight of plant, leaves, stems and yield / fed of fresh and dry herb and leaves in both seasons compared to the 1st cut as well as the 2nd cut. 2. The 2nd cut produced the highest volatile oil % and yield/fed followed by the third cut, while the least was from the 1st cut in both seasons. II. Effect of different drying methods : 1. Room drying method gave the heaviest fresh and dry weight and yield of herb and leaves, followed by air circulation drying method, while the lowest one came from the oven drying at 50 ͦ C. 2. The highest oil % and oil yield gave by using oven-drying at 50 ºC, followed by air-drying and the lowest by room-drying in both seasons. G.L.C. of the volatile oil revealed a total of 7 compounds, the main component (linalool) value was 87.77, 81.61 and 79.86 % produced by using room-drying, air-drying and oven-drying at 50 ºC, respectively. III. Effect of the interaction between cuts and different drying methods: 1. The 3rd cut produced the heaviest fresh and dry weight/plant and yield/ fed of herb and leaves by using room-drying, while the 1st cut gave the least weights by using oven drying at 50 ͦ C. 2. The 1st cut produced the highest oil % and oil yield/fed by using oven-drying at 50 ͦ C, while the 3rd cut gave the lightest one by room-drying in both seasons. IV. Effect of the interaction treatments: 1. The highest oil constituents was from jute sacks (storage materials), while the least from carton boxes during 6 months (storage period) by using all drying methods of room, air and oven at 50ºC, respectively. 2. The percentage of some compounds increased (limonene, 1.8-cineole and eugenol), others decreased (linalool, α- terpineol, borneol and geranyl acetate). To produce the highest volatile oil yield of basil plants might be harvested at the 3rd cut. Drying leaves of basil in the oven at 50 ̊C is recommended for obtaining higher volatile oil quality and quantity. Also increasing the storage period caused decrease in the volatile oil % and its components which should not exceed the 2 months. The relative small quality degradation that occurs during storage was in jute sacks. The results of this research will be used in increase the optimization sweet basil plant to keep quality.