Morphological and physiological performance of petunia (Petunia hybrida) cultivated in a growth substrate derived from Tehran pine (Pinus eldarica) cone peat

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mehrdad Babarabie 1
Atoosa Danyaei 2
Sediqeh Afsharipour 3
1 Department of Agriculture, Minab Higher Education Complex, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, 7916193145, Iran
2 PhD in Horticultural Sciences, National Skill University, Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Horticultural Sciences, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
10.22034/bsr.2026.570455.1014
Abstract
Petunia is a widely cultivated ornamental plant whose growth and flowering performance are strongly affected by the physical and chemical properties of the growing substrate. Increasing costs and limited availability of cocopeat have encouraged the use of low-cost, locally available alternatives. This study investigated the morphological and physiological responses of petunia grown in Tehran pine cone–based peat (Pinus eldarica) compared with cocopeat. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design with two substrate treatments, perlite–cocopeat and perlite–pine cone peat, with three replications. Plant height, flower number and diameter, flowering time, shoot and root biomass, leaf chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, total soluble sugars, and petal anthocyanin concentration were evaluated. The results showed that the pine cone peat–perlite mixture increased flower number by 85.7% and significantly enhanced leaf chlorophyll and carotenoid contents by 45.4% and 25.5%, respectively, while cocopeat promoted higher accumulation of soluble sugars. Overall, composted P. eldarica cone peat appears to be a sustainable and economically viable alternative to cocopeat for petunia production.

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Biospeices Research
Volume 1, Issue 1
Winter 2026
Pages 80-87

  • Receive Date 03 January 2026
  • Revise Date 31 January 2026
  • Accept Date 02 February 2026
  • First Publish Date 02 February 2026
  • Publish Date 01 February 2026