The effect of foliar application of selenium sources and different flowering stages on morphological characteristics Echium amoenum Fisch. & Mey

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of foliar application of sodium selenate and sodium selenite and different flowering stages on growth indices of Echium amoenum Fisch. & Mey as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized block design with three replications in 1397 in northern Iran. Treatments included foliar application of sodium selenate and sodium selenite with four levels (2, 4, 8 and 16 mg/l). Also, the plant without foliar application was considered as a control treatment. Foliar application was done in four stages: two true leaves, ten true leaves, two weeks before flowering and one week before flowering. Fresh and dry weight of shoots, flowers and roots, plant height, number of leaves, flowers and flowering stems in the plant and the length of the highest root at different stages of flower harvest (beginning of flowering, mid-flowering and end of flowering) were evaluated. The results of this study showed that the effect of selenium sources and flowering stages significantly affected the growth indices of Iranian borage. The highest fresh and dry shoot weight, plant height, number of leaves and flowering stems, at the end of flowering and in the treatment of 4 mg/l sodium selenate and the highest fresh and dry weight of flowers and number of flowers in the middle of flowering and in the treatment of 4 mg/l Sodium selenate was obtained, also the highest fresh and dry weight of roots and the length of the highest roots were obtained at the end of flowering and in the treatment of 8 mg/l sodium selenate. In general, the results of this experiment showed that the concentration of 4 mg/l sodium selenate significantly increased the morphological characteristics of the plant, while its higher concentration had a negative effect on the growth characteristics of Echium amoenum Fisch. & Mey