The improvement growth indices and seed germination of Echinacea purpurea by some of pre-harvest and priming treatments of seeds

In order to investigate the pre-harvest and priming application effects of gibberellic acid, salicylic acid and nitrogen on seed germination indices of Echinacea purpurea, this experiment was designed on factorial experiment in base completely randomized design with three replications at 2018 in field conditions and laboratory in the department of horticultural science of Ilam University. Experimental factors included gibberellic acid at two concentrations (100 and 200 mg/L), salicylic acid at two concentrations (100 and 200 mg/L) and nitrogen (from urea sorce) at two concentrations (3 and 6 g/L) that were investigated separately and in combination with each other. Treatments were applied with control samples as pre-planting (before maturity and seed harvesting) and seed priming (after seed harvesting). The results showed that the highest germination percentage, vigor index and shoot length were obtained in pre-harvest interaction with gibberellic acid 200 mg/L and nitrogen 6 g/L. The highest germination rate was observed in gibberellic acid 200 mg/L and the highest seed dry weight was obtained in gibberellic acid 100 mg/L. The highest root length was observed in pre-harvest treatment with 200 mg/L of gibberellic acid and 200 mg/L of salicylic acid. Also, pre-harvest nitrogen treatment had significantly higher germination percentage, germination rate, vigor index, shoot length and dry weight than their priming. Therefore, in present study, preharvest treatments of gibberellic acid in combination with nitrogen or salicylic acid were introduced for improving the seed germination of Echinacea purpurea.