The morphometric parameters of seeds of genus <i> Echinacea</i> Moench representatives and their association with agrometeorological factors
Purpose. To study morphometric parameters of fruits (cypselae) of purple coneflower ( Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench) of ‘Zirka Mykoly Vavylova' cultivar and pale coneflower ( Echinacea pallida (Nutt.) Nutt) of ‘Krasunia Prerii' cultivar and determine the impact of agro-meteorological factors on their performance according to long-term data. Methods. Laboratory, Mathematics and Statistics. Results. It was found that the parameters of cypselae and its weight in various types of coneflowers varied considerably from year to year. In this context the indicators of cypselae width and thickness had a larger variability as compared with the length. Mean length of Echinacea purpurea ranged from 4,57 to 6,16 mm, width - 2,30-2,97 mm, thickness - 1,74-2,28 mm. Weight of a cypselae made up 4,40-6,50 mg. Length of a fruit of Echinacea pallida was 4,57-5,74 mm, width - 2,51-3,18 mm, thickness - 1,76-2,37 mm, and a fruit weight varied from 5,65 to 7,70 mg. The correlation analysis revealed reliable connection of agro-climatic parameters and the parameters of the fruit. Conclusions. Using long-term data, the morphology of cypselaes of two Echinacea species introduced to Ukraine were studied, their basic parameters and the variability of indicators, connection with agro-climatic factors that is necessary to consider in crop growing for seeds.