EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL FERTILISER APPLICATION ON AGRONOMICAL TRAITS OF SAFFLOWER (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

In order to investigate the influence of biological and chemical fertilisers on morphological traits, yield and yield components of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), a field experiment was conducted in Maragheh (37°23 N; 46°16 E), in north western Iran, for one year in the 2014 growing season. The effect of seven treatments was evaluated: T1 – control (no fertiliser application), T2 – seed inoculation with P biofertiliser (contains phosphate solubilising bacteria; Pantoea agglomerans strain P5 and Pseudomonas putida strain P13), T3 – seed inoculation with N biofertiliser (contains Azotobacter vinelandii strain O4), T4 – foliar application of iron chelate, T5 – soil application of complete NPK, T6: foliar application of manganese chelate, and T7 – foliar application of zinc sulphate. The result showed that although application of N biofertiliser did not have a significant effect on the evaluated traits, P biofertiliser slightly improved grain yield. However, the application of complete NPK fertiliser improved most of the traits, compared to the control and biofertiliser treatment. The best performance was obtained by foliar application of manganese chelate and zinc sulphate. The results showed that micronutrient-deficiencies have to be managed to unlock the potential yield of safflower in semiarid production systems. Key words: iron, manganese, nitrogen, phosphorus, yield components, zinc.