Effects of maternal plant nutrition on some seed germination characteristics and seedling growth of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.)

Considering the importance of proper nutrition of mother plant in the production of seeds with high vigor, a factorial experiment was done in a completely randomized design with 3 replications to study the germination characteristics of artichoke seeds which harvested from mother plants treated with chemical and biological fertilizers, in 2013. Chemical fertilizer treatments consisted of three levels (100% chemical fertilizer, 50% chemical fertilizer and control), and bio-fertilizer consisted of 4 levels (control, inoculation with Nitroxin, inoculation with Barvar 2 and inoculation with both bio-fertilizer). The use of chemical and biological fertilizers in the maternal plant had a positive and significant effect on germination and seedlings growth of artichoke. The results showed that among different levels of chemical fertilizer, the highest 1000 seed weight, germination percent, germination rate, vigor Index, plumule dry weight, radicle dry weight, seedling dry weight, radicle length, plumule length, seedling length was obtained in the residual effects of 100% chemical fertilizer + 100 kg nitrogen per hectare. Seed inoculation with both bio-fertilizer had the maximum amount of mentioned attributes. The control level had the highest mean of germination time. It councluded that application of chemical fertilizers along with biological fertilizers can lead to improvement of most germination indices in artichoke plants by increasing the absorption of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.