Impact of Nitrogen and Phosphorus efficiency on the growth and flowering of Helichrysum bractum

Abstract

The study was conducted in the Akam plantation at Erbil city, University of Salahaddin Erbil-Iraq, during growing season of 2009-2010 from October-May. Plants of Helichrysum bracteatum were planted in plastic pots 20. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Design (RCD) in three replication and nine treatments and the data were in analyzed with the general linear model procedures in SAS, and Duncan test at level 0.05 was used for comparing the means, tow type of fertilizer used in this experiment, Urea fertilizer available Nitrogen is (46% N) and triple super phosphate available phosphate (p2o5) 45%, in different levels (0, 0.5, 1 mg/pot). Fertilizers were applied after 45 days from planting of the plants. The results showed that plant height increased significantly with increasing nitrogen up to 1 mg/pot. The highest number of flowers obtained from 1 mg/pot Phosphate and the difference was significantly comparing with other treatments. The study concluded that 0.5 mg Nitrogen/ pot is adequate for maximum fresh and dry weight of plants.