Effect of organic manure on Echium amoenum flower production

Abstract

Dry violet blue flowers of Echium amoenum (Gol-e-Gavzaban) has long been used<br><br>in traditional medicine of Iran. In order to meet the ever-increasing demand of E.<br><br>amoenum, for the indigenous systems of medicine as well as for the pharmaceutical<br><br>industry, E. amoenum need to be cultivated commercially, but the physical and<br><br>chemical situation of the soil fertility to plant production of E. amoenum is not<br><br>known clearly. This experiment was conducted based on Completely Randomized<br><br>Block Design with three replications and four treatments at Research Station, Faculty<br><br>of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in year 2009-2011. Treatments<br><br>included: cow manure (30 t/ha), Urban compost (20 t/ha), vermicompost (5 t/ha) and<br><br>control. The results showed that studied treatments had significant effect on the most<br><br>of studied indices. The highest plant height was obtained in vermicopost treatment.<br><br>The highest main and lateral branches numbers and number of flowers per plant<br><br>were obtained in cow manure and vermicompost. In addition, the highest and lowest<br><br>fresh flower yield and dry flower yield were observed at second and fourth harvest,<br><br>respectively. Also, the highest and lowest number of flower per 5 g of flower obtained<br><br>at fourth and first harvest, respectively. Hussien [3] reported that some of growth<br><br>indices, dry and fresh yield of Dracocephalum moldavica increased by application<br><br>of compost [3]. It has been stated that growth indices of plants increased through<br><br>improving of physical and chemical characteristics of soil by application of organic<br><br>manure [1, 2]. Tahami Zarandi et al.[4] found that the maximum dry and fresh yield<br><br>of Ocmimum basilicum were obtained at third harvest [4]. Overall, our results showed<br><br>that studied organic manures have positive effect on E. amoenum petals production.