Effects of microelement fertilizers and phosphate biofertilizer on some morphological, physiological traits, yield and essence of Purple coneflower in water stress conditions

In order to study the effects of microelement fertilizer and phosphate biofertilizer on some morphological, physiological characteristics, yield and essence content of Purple coneflower under water stress conditions, an experiment was carried out as split factorial layout based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the agricultural research station, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch during growing season 2009-2010. Factors included water stress as the main factor on three levels (irrigation after, 120 and 170 mm evaporation from class A), application of micro elements in three levels (control, application of zinc sulphate and Iron sulphate) and phosphate biofertilizer in two levels (C1: not application and C2: application of biofertilizer). The results showed that the highest essence yield with 20.19 lit h-1 was obtained with foliar application of zinc sulphate under irrigation after 120 mm evaporation from class A basin. Application of phosphate biofertilizer increased essence yield under different irrigation regimes so that this increase was 15.1%, 16.57% and 14.64% under full irrigation, irrigation after 120 mm and under irrigation after 170 mm evaporation from class A basin, respectively. Also, the highest essence percentage obtained in irrigation after 120 mm evaporation from class A basin with foliar application of zinc sulphate and iron sulphate, it was equal to 0.7822 and 0.7775%, respectively.