Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:8 Issue: 1, Winter 2018

Now days, turf management has encountered with water deficit, mostly due to low precipitation also industrial, agricultural and household demand and consumption. So, the objective of this project was to identify drought tolerance of warm and cool season turfgrass cultivars to different levels of regulated-deficit irrigation. The field experiment was set out in a split-plot based on completely randomized experimental design with three replications at the experimental farm of the Department of Horticultural Science‚ Agricultural College‚ Ferdowsi University of Mashhad‚ Mashhad‚ Iran. Water treatments (40‚ 70‚ 100 percentages of regulated deficit irrigation) (RDI) were considered as main plot and turf grass types as subplots. Irrigation value was according to daily reference of evapotranspiration (ETO). In all measured traits, Bowie and Cody genotypes of buffalograss showed better response as compare to fescue genotype. There was significant difference in turf quality traits of turfgrass (such as color, texture and quality after clipping) dealt with different level of drought stress. Cody has shown the lowest quality for color index. Whereas, the finer leaves have recorded in Cody and Bowie, but not significantly to each other. However tall fescue represented the rough leaves among others. Boffalograss cultivars preserved more relative water content (RWC) in contrast to that of fescue. Results suggested that buffalograss cultivars likely can cope with severe drought stress so as to maintain its morphological quality and also is able to justify its physiological traits under severe water stress. The research results indicated that buffalograss cultivars need lower levels of irrigation compare to tall fescue.

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of silicon (Si), ethanol (Et), ascorbic acid (AA) and citric acid (CA) on vase life of Narcissus tazetta L. cv. ‘Shahla’cut flowers. For this purpose, an experiment based on completely randomized design was conducted with Si (5, 10 and 20 mM), Et (2 and 4%), AA (100, 200 and 300 mg L-1), CA (100, 200 and 300 mg L-1) and control (distillated water) with 3 replications and 3 samples (individual flowers) for each replicate. The results showed that addition of all preservatives to vase solutions significantly increased relative fresh weight, water uptake and vase life of cut flowers in comparison to control. Relative fresh weight of treated cut flowers with Si (5 mM) was higher than other treatments during all days of experiment and this treatment increased relative fresh weight and total water uptake by 16 and 27% compared to control (day 7 of experiment). Silicon (5 mM) also increased fresh weight of control flower (without stem) from 0.185 to 0.259 g (40% increases). The highest dry weight of flower (0.057 g) was obtained from 300 mg. L-1AA, by 32% increases when compared to control flower. Application of Si (5 mM) extended vase life of cut flowers by 2.66 day in comparison to control. According to the results of this experiment, Si, Et, AA and CA as safe and cheap compounds are suitable for extending the vase life of N. tazetta cut flowers.

Verticillium dahliae Kleb.is a soilborne pathogen that cause vascular wilt in chrysanthemumplant (Dendranthema grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitam). The objective of this research was to study the levels of some organic solutes, such as total protein, total soluble sugars, starch and proline, relative water content, RNA level, malondialdehyde and H2O2 contents in leaves of chrysanthemuminoculated with V. dahliae. Changes of these parameters were measured on 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 days after inoculation by spectrophotometric analysis. No changes in relative water content, RNA, and protein levels and a slight decrease in chlorophyll level were detected within infected leaf tissue before the appearance of visible wilt. The decrease in relative water content coincided with a sharp build up of proline and total soluble sugars in leaves. The leaf starch and protein levels gradually declined in both healthy and infected plants during the time course of the experiment. However, the decrease was more pronounced in infected plants from the third week after inoculation. A high negative correlation was observed between total soluble sugars and starch contents in leaves of diseased plants (r= 0.764, P

Frost is the coating or deposit of ice that may form in cold conditions, usually overnight. If the temperature drops far enough for the plant cells to freeze, non hardy plants will die. Therefore, a research was laid out to study the influence of an anti-frost solution on growth, flowers quality and biochemical parameters of ornamental plants. The anti-frost solution was applied as foliar sprays in different concentration of T0: 0 (mg L-1) (only water) as control, T1: 250 (mg L-1), T2: 500 (mg L-1), T3: 1000 (mg L-1), T4: 1500 (mg L-1), T5: 2000 (mg L-1) ‘ferti-fros’, on bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra(, canna (Canna indica) and petunia (Petunia axillaris). Results showed that flowering percentage and flowering duration in the treated plants was more than control. Highest flowering percentage and flowering duration was in T5 (81.22%) and (13.86 days), respectively. By increasing concentration of anti-frost solution, damaging percentage was decreased. Lowest damaging percentage was in T5 (69.77%). Total chlorophyll enhanced with increasing concentration of anti-frost solution. Highest amount of total chlorophyll belonged to T5 (50.80 mg g-1). By comparing effect of different treatments on amount of prolineit was shown that control had highest amount of proline (0.56 μM g-1). With increasing concentration of anti-frost, amount of proline was decreased T5 (0.08 μmol g-1).Electrical conductivity was affected by different treatments in all flowers. Highest amount of electrical conductivity recorded for control (9.0 mS g-1 cm-1) and lowest amount was in T5 (2.26 mS g-1 cm-1). Difference of all the treatments was significant at 0.1% level of significance.

To evaluate the effectiveness of various organic or inorganic fertilizers on the growth and physiology of Chrysanthemum morifolium (an important ornamental plant) the current research was conducted in a completely randomized design. Seedlings were treated with vermicompost (0 and 40% w/w of soil), nano-chelated zinc (nano-Zn) (0 and 0.1% (w/v)) or ZnSO4 (0 and 0.2% (w/v). Sprays of nano-Zn or ZnSO4 were done three times with two week intervals. In comparison to control, the applied fertilizers significantly promoted growth rates and biomass accumulations as indicated by the significantly higher amounts leaf area as well as leaf fresh and dry mass in the treated plants by approximately 41%, 39%, and 28%, respectively. The simultaneous applications of nano Zn and vermicompost was the most effective supplementation to improve plant growth rate. The combined applications of mineral and biological applied fertilizers led to significant increases in the contents of photosynthetic pigments about 53%. Except for individual application of ZnSO4, the other applied treatments, especially the combined ones, resulted in significant increases in the contents of leaf proline (mean 51%), compared to control. Similarly, the simultaneous applications of supplements increased the root proline by 82%. The highest amounts of leaf soluble phenols were found in nano Zn-V group (3.3 fold higher than control). However, in root tissues only the considerable increases caused by the vermicompost treatment (approximately 49%). In conclusions, the simultaneous soil supplementations with the biological fertilizers and foliar applications of nano-fertilizers may be regarded as a suitable eco-friendly way to improve plant metabolism and growth rates.

Senescence is an integral part of the normal developmental cycle of plants and can be traced in cell, tissue and organ level. This work was focused on the efficiency of post-harvest treatment with the free polyamine spermine (Spm) to extend the vase life of cut rose flowers as an anti-senescence compound. Spm treatment was applied at the rates of 0, 1, 2 and 4 mM. Some morphological, biochemical and physiological characteristics of tested cut roses (Rosa hybrida cv. ‘Dolce Vita’) such as; flower diameter, water uptake, relative fresh weight, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde content, guiacole peroxidase activity, hydrogen peroxide content and vase life were evaluated. The effects of a pulsing application of the polyamine on the mentioned traits were significant and treatment with Spm effectively delayed the senescence of roses, especially when applied at 4 mM concentration. Polyamine treatment resulted in a notable decrease in petal electrolyte leakage due to its cationic and anti-peroxidative characters. In addition to the anti-ethylene property, the cationic character of polyamines may play an important role in determining the vase life of cut flowers.

Recent decades have witnessed the growing use of non-native plants in Iran while their use is very challenging and high-cost for the country. This raised a new approach in recent decades towards the use of native plants. Native species are precious because they possess the main ecological factors and they are already compatible with the region. Accordingly, this research was conducted to evaluate the species of woody plants that can be used in green space planning. The study focused on 55 tree species from 20 plant families in the research area. After evaluating the parameters that govern the aesthetic beauty of the studied plants in autumn, 27 tree species of Hyrcanian area were placed in the group of beautiful plants in terms of aesthetic criteria in autumn, 14 species were placed in the group of very beautiful trees, and 14 species were placed in the group of trees with average beauty. The final conclusion was that some species of Hyrcanian native trees can be used to beautify the urban landscape, especially in autumn, so it is recommended to do compatibility studies on the use of these species in urban landscape, especially in parks.