Effect of Foliar Spraying with Triacontanol and Iron Sulfate on the Growth and Flowering of Zinnia

The experiment was carried out during the spring season 2022 in the nursery of the Diyala Agriculture Directorate, to study the effect of foliar spraying with Triacontanol and iron on the growth and flowering of the zinnia plant -1, and denoted by Tr0, Tr5, Tr10, and Tr15 respectively, the research was carried out as a factorial experiment (4 × 4) according to the Randomized Compelet Block Design (RCBD), the research steps began by planting seeds in cork dishes containing peat moss On 3/14/2022, one seed was planted in each eye. The results of the experiment were summarized as follows: The foliar spraying with Triacontanol led to a significant superiority in all studied traits, as the concentration exceeded 15 mg.L-1 by recording the best results for the characteristic of plant height (24.71 cm), number of leaves (29.80 leaves. plant-1), and number of branches (7.80 branch. Plant-1), flowering time (21.00 days), inflorescence diameter (99.13 mm), and foliar spraying with iron sulfate led to a signficant superiority in all studied traits, as the concentration exceeded 0.4 g.l-1 by recording the best results for the plant height trait (26.79 cm).), the number of leaves (26.30 leaves.plant-1), the number of branches (7.22 branches.plant-1), the flowering date (23.76 days), and the diameter of the inflorescence (80.01 mm), while the interaction between the foliar spraying with Triacontanol and iron sulfate 1ed to superiority Signficant in all studied traits, as concentration treatment 15 mg.L-1 and 0.4 g.L-1 excelled by recording the best results for the characteristic of plant height (30.35 cm), number of leaves (30.90 leaves. plant-1), and number of branches (8.00 branches). Plant-1), flowering time (18.00 days), and inflorescence diameter (110.00 mm).


Introduction
Annual ornamental plants are important fast-growing and flowering plants, as they grow and bloom in one season, and are used in many agricultural sectors such as flowering plant nurseries, cultivation in gardens, parks and roadsides, and for the purposes of landscaping and landscaping, in addition to the primary role of ornamental plant cultivation.It is enjoying its beauty, as beauty is the most important feature of an ornamental plant, which is represented by the beauty of its leaves, flowers, and smell.It is also important in adding calmness and a sense of comfort and relaxation.Zinnia elegans L is a summer annual plant that belongs to the compound family Asteraceae.America is the original home of the plant.The genus contains about 20 species.Zinnia multiplies by seeds and is considered fast to germinate, as it takes 3-5 days at a temperature of 27-29 C, with good ventilation conditions.Regular irrigation with less spraying of leaves when watering to avoid rotting and fungus infection.Lighting is important for the zinnia plant as it shifts it from the vegetative growth stage to the flowering stage.Zinnia is used as an accent plant for gardens and parks.It is famous for its wonderful colors of white, red, yellow, violet, pink and orange [ 2,1 ] , in addition to its landscaping value in gardens, it is considered an antioxidant as it contains flavonoids, peroxidases and peroxidases in the vegetative parts, and is considered one of the favorite plants of bees [ 4,3 ] .Agricultural technical practices for most cultivated plants, especially decorative plants, now include the use of plant growth regulators, which are organic chemical compounds that regulate numerous physiological processes in the plant at low concentrations [ 5 ] , and Triacontanol is one of the natural plant growth regulators found In plant wax, it is used to increase plant productivity and quality.Studies have shown its significant effect on growth, flowering, photosynthesis, protein synthesis, nitrogen fixation, and increased enzyme activity in plants.The effect of triacontaol depends on the concentration used, as low concentrations of it reduce the effect of Plant salt stress [ 6 ] ,and that spraying plants with Triacontanol increases their resistance to water stress, and also improves plant stress resulting from high concentrations of elements, including lead, and has an important effect on seeds, as the treatment of plant seeds with Triacontanol leads to an increase in plant resistance to stresses and increased biomass and photosynthetic rate [ 7 ] .Spraying fertilizer solutions directly onto the plant's leaves is called foliar feeding, and it's done to remedy nutrient deficiencies and promote healthy plant growth.The propensity to form insoluble aggregates means it is not readily available to plants, but its involvement in a wide variety of physiological and biochemical pathways means it is indispensable to plant life.The presence of iron in a plant's diet increases its resistance to abiotic stress because of the mineral's role as an antioxidant in the production of chlorophyll and in the maintenance of chloroplast structure and function ]8,9[.

Research Aims
Due to the lack of information available about the effects of Triacontanol on the growth, flowering, and quality of zinnia plants and the importance of iron as it playssan importantirole in various physiological and biochemical pathways in plants and the importance of zinnia plants as pot flowers, so thisistudy aims to know theleffectiof foliar spraying with Triacontanol and iron sulfate in improving the characteristics of The vegetative and flowering growth of the zinnia plant, increasing the production of flowers and improving their characteristics.

Materials and Methods
The experiment was carried out during the spring season 2022 in the nursery of the Dyiala Agricullture Directorate.Theiexperiment waslconducted for period from 4/1/2021 to 7/20/2022, to studyithe effecti of foliar spraying with Triacontanol and iron on the growth and flowering of the zinnia plant.The experiment included a study ofltwo factors, aslfirst factorrrepresnted the spraying Foliar with Triacontanol at different concentrations of 0, 5, 10, and 15 mg.L -1 , denoted by Tr0, Tr5, Tr10, and Tr15, respectively.The plants were sprayed with Triacontanol twice after 15 and 25 days of seedling.They are 0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 g.l -1 , denoted by Fe0, Fe0.1, Fe0.2, and Fe0.4,respectively.The seeds of Zinnia L. were imported.Zinnia elegans 'Magellan' cultivar, from the Swiss seed production company Syngenta through one of the agricultural offices in Baghdad, the research was carried out as a factorial experiment (4 × 4) according to the Randomized Compelet Block Design (RCBD), the research steps began with planting seeds in cork dishes Contains Peat moss On 3/14/2022, one seed was planted in each eye.

Plant Height (cm(
When the inflorescences of the plant are fully formed, their height was measured by inserting a measuring tape from the area oflcontactiof the plant stem with the soil surface of the pot to the end of the apex of the inflorescence.

The Number of Leaves (leaf.plant -1 )
The average number of leaves per plant was determined by tallying up the data from all five plants in the experimental unit.

The Number of Branches (branch. plant -1 )
The average number of branches for the 5 plants in the experimental unit was determined.

Flowering Time (Day)
The number of days was calculated from the date of transplantation to the date of opening the flower, and then according to its average.

Inflorescence Diameter (cm(
Inflorescence diameter was measured using a Vernier's foot by taking the distance between the two furthest points of the inflorescence and calculating its average.

Plant Height (cm)
As can be shown in Table (2), when compared to the control treatment and the spraying treatment with a concentration of 15 mg, all doses of Triacontanol significantly increased plant height.The L -1 treatment resulted in the tallest plants, at 24.71 cm, while the comparison treatment yielded the shortest, at 16.31 cm.All treatments of spraying plants with iron sulphate resulted in a signficant increaselin plant height compard to comparison treatmentl.The comparison reached 16.93 c m. Theeresult of the intraction betwen the two studiedlfactors showed a significant effect on plantiheight.Theetreatment Tr15×Fe0.4excelled in recording the highest plant height of 30.35 c m, while the lowes plant height was in treatmentiTr0×Fe0, reaching 14.05 cm.Means that take the same letter for each factor or for the interaction between them did not differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05) according to Dunkin's multiple range test.

Number of Leaves (leaf.plant -1 )
According to Table 3, all concentrations of Triacontanol resulted in a statistically significant increase in leaf count compared to the control treatment and the 15 ml gm spraying treatment.L -1 did an excellent job at producing many leaves for it, with a total of 29.80.The fewest leaves were found in the control treatment, with a total of 15.79 per plant -1 .Plant -1 .Iron sulphate spray treatments resulted in a statistically significant increase in leaf count compared to the controls.The fewest leaves, a total of 22.91, were counted in the comparative treatment.Plant -1 showed that the number of leaves was significantly affected by the interaction between two studied factors, with the treatment Tr15Fe0.4 producing the greatest total of 30.90 leaves.Plant -1 , with Tr0Fe0 as the treatment record.The fewest lleaves possible is 13.Plant -1 .Means that take the same letter for each factor or for the interaction between them did not differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05) according to Dunkin's multiple range test.

Number of Branches (branch.plant -1 )
Based on the data in Table (4), we can conclude that spraying the treatment with 15 mlg.L of triacontanol significantly increased the number of branches, which peaked at 7.80 branches.plant - vs the comparison treatmen, which recorded a total of 4.54 limbs.plant -1 .In this regard, it is observed Results showed that spraying plants with iron sulphate at a concentration of 0.4 g resulted in a significant increase in the number of branches in the plant.When it came to producing the most offshoots, L -1 came out on top, with a whopping 7.22 of them.Plant, compared to the comparison treatment, which resulted in less branches (5.66 total).plant -1 .The number of branches was significantly affected by the overlap between the two factors studied, with Tr15Fe0.4 providing the greatest number of branches (7.80).Plant-1 had the most branches (4.40), followed by treatments Tr0Fe0 and Tr10Fe0 with 3.00 and 3.66, respectively.The first plant on the relay.Table 4. Effect of foliar spraying with triacontanol and iron sulfate and the interaction between them on the number of branches of Zinnia elegans L. Means that take the same letter for each factor or for the interaction between them did not differ significantly (P ≤ O.O5) according to Dunkin's multple rang test.

Flowering Date (Day(
Table (5) shows that foliar spraying with triacontanol, and specifically spraying treatmnt with aIconcntration of 15 mg, dramatically impacted the flowering date.The L -1 treatment resulted in an earlier flowering date than the control (30.51 days), at 21.00 days.The timing of blooming was considerably altered by foliar spraying with iron sulphate at a concentration of 0.4 g.L -1 .The treatment resulted in an earlier blooming time of 23.76 days compared to the control treatment's blooming time of 27.75 days.Flowering times were significantly affected by iron, with treatment Tr5Fe0.4 resulting in the earliest flowering date at 18.00 days and treatment Tr0Fe0 resulting in the latest flowering date at 33.01 days.Table 5.Effect of foliar spraying with iacontanol and iron sulfate and the interaction betwen them on flowering time (day) of Zinnia elegans L.

Inflorescence Diameter (mm)
Table (6) shows that spraying at a concentration of 15 mg resulted in the biggest inflorescence diameter.The inflorescence diameter was 99.13 mm when treated with 1 mL -1 of triacontanol, whereas it was only 47.38 mm when treated with the comparison treatment.Spraying treatments with a concentration of 4 g of iron sulfate on the plant's leaves significantly increased the size of the inflorescence.The inflorescence diameter was greatest for L -1 , at 80.01 mm, and smallest for the comparator treatment, at 64.24 cm.Diameter of inflorescence was significantly affected by the interaction treatments of foliar spraying with triacontanol and iron sulphate, with the treatment Tr15Fe0.4 producing the largest inflorescence at 110.00 mm and the treatment Tr00Zn producing the smallest at 40.00 mm.Table 6.Effect of foliar spraying with triacontanol and iron sulfate and their interaction on flowering time (day) of Zinnia elegans L. Means that take the same letter for each factor or for the interaction between them did not differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05) according to Dunkin's multiple range test.

The Percentage of Iron in the Leaves (%)
Table (7) shows that the concentration of triacontanol in the foliar spray treatments considerably influenced the amount of iron found in the leaves, with the 15 mg concentration having the greatest effect.The percentage of iron in the leaves increased from the comparison treatment (the lowest percentage) to L -1 (the highest percentage).It hit a high of 134.88%.All treatments of iron sulfate foliar spraying significantly affected the percentage of iron in the leaves, although the two spraying concentrations of 0.2 and 0.4 gm were most effective.Increases in leaf iron content of 144.40 and 147.82%, relative to the comprison treatment, were seen after receiving L -1 .The iron content of the leaves was 134.10 percent.
The percentage of iron in the leaves was significantly affected by the interactivity treatments involving foliar spraying with triacontanol and iron sulfate; this effect was greatest in the treatment Tr15Fe0.4,where the percentage of iron in the leaves was increased to 166.36%, and was least in the treatment Tr0Fe0, where it was reduced to 130.62%.Means that take the same letter for each factor or for the interaction between them did not differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05) according to Dunkin's multiple range test

Discussion
The results of tables (2, 3, and 4) showed that the foliar spray treatments with triacontanol significantly affected the trait (plant height, number of leaves, and number of branches).With the findings of when spraying triacontanol on marigolds.The results of tables (5,6and7) show that the treatments of foliar spraying with triacontanol significantly affected the characteristic of flowering date and inflorescence diameter.This superiority points to the role of triacontanol in increasing photosynthesis, protein synthesis, and enzyme activity in the plant [ 6 ] These results agree with the findings of Nariya et al. ( 2022) when spraying triacontanol on the Chinese aster plant

Conclusions
The most important conclusions reached during the study:  Zinnia plants' vegetative and floral growth characteristics were enhanced by foliar spraying with triacontanol and iron sulphate. A 15 mg/mL spray is used in the therapy.L -1 of triacontanol enhanced every aspect of vegetative and floral development, leading to better-quality blooms. The positive effect of foliar spraying with ferrous sulfate on all the characteristics of vegetative and flowering growth, and the concentration exceeded 0.4 gm.L -1 of ferrous sulfate in giving the best results for the studied traits.The results of table (7,6,5,4,3,2) showed that foliar spraying with iron sulfate led to a significant increase in plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, diameter of inflorescences, flowering time, and the percentage of iron in the leaves.The reason for this increase may be attributed to: Iron is included in the composition of Ferredoxin, which acts as a carrier of electrons in the process of photosynthesis, and thus leads to an increase in the number of branches and thus an increase in the number of leaves.Iron is an important part of the nitrogenase enzyme that fixes nitrogen in nitrogenfixing plants, and iron is considered the donor of the NADPI energy complex electron in the first photosystem.Inflorescence diameter and early flowering [14] and these results agree with what was reached [15] when iron was sprayed on Dendrobium plant.

Recommendations
Based on the results obtained from this study, we can recommend the following:  Conducting other studies to find out the response of other ornamental plants to spraying with triacontanol and iron sulfate using different concentrations, different spraying times, more number of sprays, and its effect on increasing growth. Adopting a concentraton of 15 mg..L -1 of triacontanol and a concentration of 0.4 of iron sulphate in the production of Zinnia plant to give it the best results for the characteristics of vegetative and flowering growth.

Table 1 .
Agricultural soil has a variety of chemical and physical characteristics.

Table 2 .
Effect of foliar spraying with Triacontanol and iron sulfate and the interaction betwen them on plant height (cm) of Zinnia plant.Zinnia elegans L.

Table 3 .
Effect of foliar spraying with triacontanol and iron sulphate and the intraction betwen them on the number of leaves (leaf.plant - ) of Zinnia elegans L.

Table 7 .
Effect of foliar spraying with triacontanol and iron sulfate and the interaction btween them on the percentage of iron in leaves (%) of Zinnia plant.Zinnia elegans L.