Effect of organic and chemical fertilizers along with silicon application on morpho-physiological characteristics and yield of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea L.)

This research was conducted with aim of investigating the effects of organic and chemical fertilizers along with silicon on morpho-physiological characteristics and yield of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea L.), in Mazandaran,, Amol during 2022. The experiment was cconducted as a split-plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experimental treatments include the application of organic and chemical fertilizers at four levels (control, manure, vermicompost and chemical fertilizer) as the main plot and silicon at three levels (control, potassium silicate and nano-Si) were considered as sub plot. The results indicated that the most growth characteristics like plant height, number of flowers per plant and leaf area were obtained by chemical fertilizer. The highest dry weight of plant organ was achieved with use of chemical fertilizers. The highest dry weight of flowers (429.3 g.m-2) was obtained by chemical fertilizer, which was not significantly different from the use of vermicompost (417.3 g.m-2). The application of both sources of silicon led to improvement in the number of flowers per plant, leaf area, and concentration of chlorophylls compared with control, although the application of nano-Si had higher improvement effects compared with potassium silicate. The nano-Si increased the dry weight of flowers by 9.6 and 7.4% compared with non-application of silicon and potassium silicate, respectively. Therefore, according to the findings of the present study, application of vermicompost organic fertilizer is introduced as a suitable alternative to chemical fertilizers, as well as nano-Si application to improve the morpho-physiological characteristics and yield of purple coneflower.