investigation the response of morphological, physiological and biochemichal attributes of marigold to seed priming and 24-epibrassinolide foliar

to investigate the effects of priming and foliar spray by 24-epibrassinolide (ebr) on some of marigold morphological, biological and biochemical traits, an experiment was conducted as factorial on completely randomized design with three replications at experimental laboratory of department of horticulture, shahid bahonar university of kerman in 2014. each of priming and foliar spray of ebr had four concentrations (0, 0.1, 1 and 10 µm). results showed that growth parameters and photosynthetic pigments increased proportional to the increment of ebr in priming and foliar spray treatments. . the greatest shoot weight (79 percent), root (33 percent), fresh (28 percent) and dry (26 percent) weights of pot marigold compared to control were obtained at priming with 0.1 µm plus foliar spray at 0.1 µm of ebr.   furthermore, the highest chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll and carotenoids were found at the same concentration (0.1 µm priming + 0.1 µm foliar spray of ebr) with 2.4, 3.1, 2.6 and 2.7 percent increase respectively. the ebr increased protein and reduced sugar up to (35 percent) and (18.3 percent) compared with control. the results of this experiment indicated that application of ebr can be used to improve the growth and development traits of pot marigold.