Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Winter 2019

The effects of savory, caraway, and rose extracts and 8-HQS were studied on the vase life of Alstroemeria cut flowers. The plant extracts at three levels (10, 20, and 40 %), 8-HQS at three levels (100, 200, and 300 mg l-1), and control (distilled water) with 3 % sucrose were continuously applied on the basis of a Completely Randomized Design with three replications. It was found that the treatments were more effective on sustaining vase life as compared to control. The application of 8-HQS at the rates of 200 and 300 mg l-1 resulted in the longest vase life of 19.83 and 19.66 days, respectively. Among plant extracts, 20 % savory showed the longest vase life (18 days). The highest solution uptake (1.81 ml g-1FW) was associated with the application of 20% savory extract. The treatments of 10, 20, and 40 % savory extract and 200 mg l-1 8-HQS were the most successful treatments in sustaining fresh weight. The lowest bacterial population in vase solution (3 Log10 CFU ml-1) was observed in the treatment of 200 mg l-1 8-HQS. The treatments of 20 % savory extract and 200 mg l-1 8-HQS had the lowest electrolyte leakages of 4.46 and 4.93 %. The treatments of 40 and 20 % savory extract were the most effective treatments in reducing MDA accumulation. Given these results, it is recommended to use savory extract as a natural, environment-friendly compound to improve post-harvest traits and extend the longevity of Alstroemeria cut flowers.

Floriculture is among Kenya’s top foreign exchange earners. Gladiolus is one of the four famous cut flowers in the world whose popularity in Kenya is attributed to its heat tolerance, many spike forms and color combinations. However, the perishable nature of the flower renders it vulnerable to huge post-harvest losses. The study aimed to evaluate pulsing effect of cut Gladiolus grandiflorus ‘Fado’ with 600 ppm 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate plus 5 % sucrose prior to wet cold storage duration (0 – 5 days) on quality and vase life against the control (distilled water). The Gladiolus were grown in the open field from corms at the Horticulture Research and Teaching Field, in the Department of Crops, Horticulture and Soils, Egerton University, Kenya, during two successive seasons. A two by six factorial experiment embedded in a completely randomized design with four replicates was adopted. Pro GLM model in two way ANOVA was used to determine differences using Tukey’s test at 5 % level of significance. Pulsing treatment had significant effects on the Gladiolus quality parameters including: Fresh weight (P = 0.0031; 82.214 ± 0.7934 g) as compared to the control; dry weight (P = 0.0272); interactive effect of the pulsing and cold storage duration treatments (P = 0.0004); maximum vase life (11.5 ± 0.287 days) and opened florets (11 ± 0.15). The highest number of unopened buds (5.18 ± 0.212) were recorded in the control which also had least mean water uptake (23.87± 0.26 ml) as compared with the pulsed and cold stored spikes (31.98 ± 0.193 ml). Pulsed cold stored Gladiolus preserved quality up to 4 days. The knowledge gained from this study will augment existing technologies in improving quality and market value of this cut flower.

Scrutinizing of different aspects in vegetative propagation of Iranian J. communis L. is of prime importance in order to prevent extinction of such valuable conifer. In this research, the effects of different seasons, gender, different chemical compounds (IBA, PBZ, putrescine and sodium nitroprusside) and three strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes on ex-vitro rooting capacity of male and female J. communis L. were evaluated. Rooting of semi-hard wood J. communis L.cuttings in autumn were notably successful either in female or male plants. Research results indicated that cutting gained in September provides the highest rooting percentage in female plants while no significant differences in rooting ability were found in male plants which were collected in December and September. There were a female-biased root induction trends between genders. Treatment of female cuttings with IBA declined rooting to the half, even in male cuttings it completely suppress root induction ability compared to control plants. Our empirical evidence on presence of genetic difference in random amplified loci of male and female plants to some extent can explain the difference in rooting competency which can be influenced by difference in genetic make up. A4 strain of A. rhizogenes managed to yield 53.5% rooting compared to the other strains in male plants. The gender-mediated adventitious root formation of J. communis L. which has supported with some genetic evidence will pave the way for further fundamental studies to delineate the missing molecular key of rooting mechanisms.

Suitable selection of cultivars, is one of the important determinant factors that affects on quantity and quality of bulb flowers at the climate of Iran. In order to, introducing superior cultivars of gladiolus for cultivation in temperate regions of Iran, the experiment was carried out in a complete randomized block design (CRBD) in three replications with five cultivars of gladiolus including ‘Roma’, ‘Wiss Sensatiow’, ‘Nova Lux’, ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘White Prosperty’ in a greenhouse at the Ornamental Plants Research Center (OPRC) in Mahallat city of Iran. Results indicated that difference between cultivars was significant for all studied characteristics. As the plant height, highest number and weight of cormlets were observed in ‘Amsterdam’. The highest leaf length and width, number of florets, spike length and stem diameter were observed in ‘Wiss Sensatiow’. The highest vase life (9.66 days), main corm weight (40.80 g), main corm diameter (56 mm) and floret diameter (9.25 cm) were seen in the ‘Roma’ cultivar. The results of correlation analysis between variables were also shown, there was a positive and significant correlation between the diameter and weight of the main corm (r =+ 0.92), spike and leaf length (r =+ 0.98). ‘Roma’ and ‘Wiss Sensatiow’ cultivars had the highest flower and corm traits. So, they recommended as alternative to some oldest cultivars (like ‘White Prosperty’). These are very important for marketing in Iran.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of different levels of salinity stress and sprayed of the 6-benzylaminopurine (benzyl adenine) on morphological and biochemical characteristics of winter jasmine. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in 2016-2017 growing seasons in research center of greenhouse production of Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch. The experiment was carried by using a factorial based on completely randomized design with 4 levels of salinity stress (2, 4, 6 and 8 dS m-1) as the first factor and different levels of benzyl adenine (control (non-application), 25 and 50 mg l-1) as a second factor was performed in 3 replications (total of 36 plots). The traits such as fresh and dry weight of flower, flower number, content of the chlorophyll a, b, total, carotenoids, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme of winter jasmine plant were studied. The results showed that salinity levels and benzyl adenine foliar application have a significant effect on all of traits. The results showed that the activity of SOD was significantly higher in application of 8 dS m-1 salinity than the 2 dS m-1 treatment, and the highest enzymatic activity were recorded at 8 dS m-1 treatment. On the other hand, in investigating the effects of foliar application of Benzyl adenine treatment, it was observed that this factor had positive effects on all of the above traits and their effects were concentration-dependent. It can be concluded that although salinity stress had a negative effect on winter jasmine, benzyl adenine treatment has minimized the negative effects of salinity stress.

The main object of this study is to investigate the effect of plant growth regulators on the prolongation of vase life of two kinds of cut carnation under normal and ethylene. Carnation is one of the most popular flowers that has a short life due to its sensitivity to ethylene. Also, the effect of plant growth regulators on several physiological traits under ethylene stress and normal conditions was studied. The effects of short-term treatment with benzyl adenine, salicylic acid, and methyl jasmonate on two types of cut carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus L.), one-headed standard cut carnation and multi- flower mini cut carnation, under exposure of ethylene condition were investigated. Benzyl adenine 100 µM short-term treatment had the most effect on total chlorophyll content. Salicylic acid 100 µM treatment enhanced the soluble carbohydrates, and also prolonged the cut carnation vase life. Methyl jasmonate 400 µM treating elevated the catalase and peroxidase enzymes activity and increased the proline content in cut carnations. All considered traits were reduced by exogenous ethylene. None of short-term treatments could repel the inappropriate exogenous ethylene effects. One-headed standard carnations were also tolerant of ethylene more than multi- flower mini carnations.

Due to the econemic and envaironmental limitiation in the use of peat moss as a growth medium of ornamental plants, researchers seek an apporiate alternative in flower and plants industry. Zeolite because of the high capacity of water holding and cations enchange, has an ability in the replacement  of peat moss. At this research, the posibility subtitution of peat moss by zeolite as a growth medium of Dracaena marginata was investigated. The control medium was a ratio 2:1 of peat: perlite that six levels of zeolite (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 % v/v) in replacement with peat were used in a compeletly randomized design. Some chemical  and physical charactristics of growth media were measured including EC, pH, total nitrogen, organic carbon, C/N ratio, available phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, bulk density, porosity and field capacity. The plant growth parameters were also measured including height, stem diameter, leaf number, fresh weight of leaves, root and stem. The results showed the highest height of stem obtained in 10% v/v treatment of zeolite  and stem height had not significant difference in compared with control in 40 and 50% v/v zeolite. Fresh weight of leaves was more than in the control in all zeolite treatments, and in other growth indices, 10% v/v treatment caused a better response of plant. The bulk density increased and the porosity decreased proportional to the increase in zeolite. Prosty, EC, aeration porosity and field capacity had the highest effect on the growth indices in 10-20% v/v zeolite.