Journal of Crop Production and Processing

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Nourolahi P, Abdali Mashhadi A, Koochekzadeh A, Gharineh M H. Effect of Sulfuric Acid, Humic Acid and Potassium Nitrate Foliar Spraying on Petal Color Quality, Antioxidant Activity, Carotenoids and Flower Yield in Marigold (Calendula officinalis L.). Journal of Crop Production and Processing 2019; 9 (3) :95-111
URL: http://jcpp.iut.ac.ir/article-1-2739-en.html

In order to investigate the effects of sulfuric acid, humic acid and potassium nitrate foliar spraying on quantitative and qualitative of marigold a field trial was conducted in Ramin Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Iran in 2015-2016. This study was carried out using a split factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Treatments included potassium nitrate (N₁=no application, N₂=250 ppm and N₃= 500 ppm) as the main factor, sulfuric acid (S₁=no application and S₂=5 L/ha) and humic acid (H₁=no application and H₂=16 kg/ha) as the second factor. Studied traits included capitol diameter, number of ray flowers in inflorescences, total number of inflorescences per m², fresh and dry weight of inflorescences, harvest index, petal carotenoid concentrations, antioxidant activity and petal color quality (L*a*b parameters). The highest inflorescence dry weight (53 g m^-2), fresh and dry weight of inflorescences (380 g m^-2), total number of inflorescences per m² (372), number of ray flowers in inflorescences (58) and harvest index (14%) were detected in N₂S₁, N₂S_2, N₂S_2, N₂S₁ and N₁H₂, respectively. The least antioxidant activity (0.048 mg ml^-1) was obtained in S₁H₂. The highest a (5.23) and L (61.64) color parameters for yellow flowers and b (84.44) color parameter for orange flowers were found in N₁S₁H₁, N₃S₂H₂ and N₂H₂, respectively. In general, the best treatments for the two important traits of inflorescence dry matter yield and number of inflorescences per square meter were N₂S₁ and N₂S₂, respectively.