hossein aroei

Soil low fertility resulted from continuous chemical fertilizer application turned to be a challenge to sustainable agricultural production. Complementary application of chemical and organic fertilizers is a fertilizer management strategy and a practical solution for reducing the dependency to chemical fertilizer.

Since little reports about eryngo reaction toward fertilization exist, a field experiment based on split-plot design with 3 replications with two treatments, fertilization as the main plot with 8 treatments and harvesting stage as sub-plot with three developmental phases was conducted in 2016 in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.

The results revealed that appropriate application of organic with inorganic fertilizers increased eryngo’s productivity and its phytochemical constituent. NPK fertilizer (200 Kg.ha-1) + CM (20 t.ha-1) in leaf number per plant (28), herb yield (498.77 Kg.ha-1), flavonoid (41.10 mg QE .g-1 dry sample), antioxidant (85.64%), essential oil percentage (0.17%W/W) and yield (0.85 Kg.ha-1) at last harvest resulted to the highest amounts. The minimum amounts were produced at control and first harvest. Mycorrhizae symbiosis and Manure treatments in the first harvest did not represent any difference with control but over time, the difference grew up into a considerable level. Result showed that the effects of conventional 100% NPK and 50% CM + 50% NPK fertilizers were almost similar. Application of these fertilizers increased yield and phytochemical traits.

In view of the positive reaction of eryngo toward fertilization specially to integrated treatments, we can take advantage of these fertilizations to produce safe and healthy crop.

Eryngo (Eryngium caucasicum Tratvu.)is an endemic plant used as a leafy herb that its seed germination behavior has not been well studied. Research on its domestication and propagation can enhance its maintenance and commercialization. Therefore, a laboratory experiment was carried out with eight constant temperatures ranging from 0-35 °C (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C with three replicates in a completely randomized design at Agriculture Faculty, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran in 2016. Two regression models, including Intersected Lines Model and Quadratic Polynomial Model were applied to germination data to evaluate cardinal temperatures and R2 value was used as criteria for comparison between the models. Results showed that seed germination occurred at temperature of 10-25 °C. Optimum germination uniformity was obtaned at temperature of 10 to 20 °C. The temperature of 15 °C with highst germination percentage (88.33 %), germination energy (92.5 %), time to 90 % germination and germination uniformity (7.17 day) was found as the optimum temperature for seed germination. Quadratic Polynomial Model was found as a better model to evaluate eryngo seed germination. The temperature of 0.85, 15.33 and 29.81 °C were respectively estimated as minimum, optimum and maximum temperatures for eryngo seed germination. It is concluded that the data can be used to predict germination of eryngo response to temperature and management of the plant in agriculture as a new leafy herb.