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8648179 
Journal Article 
Arnica chamissonis growing in Croatia as affected by climate and pricking 
Zutic, I; Borosic, J; Benko, B; Novak, B; Dragovic-Uzelac, V 
2008 
Yes 
Cereal Research Communications
ISSN: 0133-3720 
36 
SUPPL. 5 
287-290 
English 
The medicinal plant A. montana L. is an endangered species in some European countries, its collecting from wild is prohibited, but its growing on arable areas is not cost-effective due to its slow growth. In recent years the trade demands for partly substitutional drug (dried capitulums) of considerably easier cultivated American arnica, A. chamissonis has been greatly enlarged. The research objective is to determine agronomic traits of A. chamissonis in two pedo-climatically different regions of Croatia (hilly-mountainous and continental), along with growing from transplants produced by two different methods (pricking, without pricking). Sowing into polystyrene 209-cell trays was done on April 21, pricking into 40-cell trays on June 14, and planting in the open on July 20, 2005 (6 planting places·m -2). Flower-head harvests and morphological analyses were carried out three times in 2006 (June 8 and 20, July 5). It was found that A. chamissonis could not be grown in the continental region without irrigation. In the hilly-mountainous region, fresh flower-heads yield (121.8 g·m -2), number of runners (44.5 per planting place), root length (32.9 cm), herbage and root mass (66.6 and 88.2 g per planting place, respectively) were significantly higher in plants grown from pricked out transplants. Outputs of dry flower heads, herbage and roots were equal in both treatments (on average 20.8, 28.1 and 31.4%, respectively). Further investigations of fertilization should be undertaken. 
Morphological characteristics; Pricking; Transplants cultivation method; Yield components