Morphological Features Response of Calendula to the Application of Animal Manures (Cow, Chicken, and Ostrich Manures)

Calendula officinalis L., is one of the most important medicinal herbs in Iran. The only limited researches that have been done on the need of medicinal plants to the fertilizer in arid and semiarid regions show that the use of organic fertilizers (manure and poultry) can improve environmental conditions without worrying about the effects of physical, chemical and biological of soil and also increases soil fertility . To investigate the effect of organic fertilizers on the characteristics in Calendula officinalis L., an experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four treatments and three replications. This study was carried out through the 2012-2013 season at the Agricultural Research Institute related to Zabol University (Chahnime). In addition, data obtained throughout this study were statistically analyzed using the analysis of variance method, and the differences between means were differentiated by using Duncanʹs range test. Treatments were different organic fertilizers include: Cow manure, Chicken manure, Ostrich manure, and control (no fertilizer) with the amount of 20 tons.h-1. Results of analysis of variance showed that the effects of animal manures on length and width of plant and also number of Capitula/plant and number of seed/Capitula were not significant. However, the study showed that the use of chicken manures significantly enhanced the some morphological components of Calendula compared to the others manures. The plant height, number of flowers/plant, number of leaves/plant, number of seeds/plant, and 1000-seed mass were increased by animals manure however, the chicken manure has a stronger effect than others. Moreover, the seed yield of Calendula in the chicken manure obviously increased in comparison with other treatments.