Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Winter 2022

Lily (Lilium spp.) is one of the most important flower in ornamental plants industry. This flower is one of the geophyte plants, therefore lilies cultivation was done with bulb. Between different lily bulb producing methods, scaling is a cost-effective and short-term technique. Lily bulb producers have always various challenges in different stage of production. Aiming to focus on solving these challenges, two separate experiments were performed to optimize bulblet production, as the first stage of bulb production. In the first experiment, four concentrations of two types of auxin (indole-3- butyric acid and naphthalene acetic acid at concentrations of 250 and 500 mg/L) and a control treatment as the first factor and effects of three culture media, including coco peat, coco peat + perlite (1:1) and black peat moss, as the second factor were examined. Results indicated that although the highest number of bulblets per scale (2.07) was observed in concentration of 500 mg/L of indole-3- butyric acid, but the maximum bulblet’s weight (0.81 g) and bulblet’s diameter (1.32 cm) were produced under control treatment. Regarding culture media effects, the highest number of bulblet per scale (2.02) maximum bulblet’s weight (0.71 g) and bulblets’ diameter (1.21 cm) were obtained in peat moss media. In the second experiment, above mentioned concentrations of the plant growth regulators as a first factor and also the presence or absence of light as a second factor was examined. Results showed that present or absent of light has not significant effects on all evaluated traits except bulblet’s diameter. Bulblet diameter significantly increased in dark situation. Extract of this study indicated, in lily bulbs production, with using PGR treatment can improve some quantity and quality traits.

The quality and quantity of lily cut flowers depend mostly on the composition of growing media. To evaluate the effect of two sources of the palm peat substrate (the palm trunk: Prepared from the trunk of the date palm; the palm tree: Prepared from all parts of the date palm) on plant growth traits related to cut lily flower, a factorial experiment arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications. The impact of eleven root growing media consisted of mixtures of palm peat, cocopeat, and perlite on two cultivars (‘Tiber’ and ‘Candy Club’) were evaluated under hydroponic conditions. The results showed that the stem diameter, the time of flower emergence, buds length, leaves relative water content (LRWC), leaves and petal's electrolyte leakage (LEL and PEL), bud visual quality, and quality index criteria were as more in the ‘Candy Club’, but SPAD1 and bud diameter characters were higher in the ‘Tiber’. The highest amount of chlorophyll a, b, and total, SPAD1, SPAD3, stem diameter, bud diameter, and quality index were observed in control (80% cocopeat + 20% perlite), which was not significantly different from some palm trunk, and reused cocopeat substrates. The higher value of LRWC, bud length, and carotenoid was observed in 20% palm trunk treatment, while the higher flower longevity occurred in 60% palm tree treatment. 80% reused cocopeat treatment was showed the highest number of bulblets, SPAD2, and time to harvest. The lowest amount of LEL, harvest time, and time of flower emergence was observed in the control. Various cultivars differently respond to growing media, and palm trunk and reused cocopeat could replace a part and, or whole of expensive imported cocopeat. The palm trunk substrates were superior to the palm tree substrates, but there was a low advantage of control than the palm trunk substrate.

The application of blue light to postharvest cut flowers is a new method to improve their vase life. This research aimed to explore the effect of blue light irradiated for different times (6, 12, 18, or 24 hours) and the pulse treatment of silver nanoparticles (SNP) (5, 10, 15, or 20 mg L-1) on the vase life and the related traits of cut Alstroemeria cv. ‘Napoli’ flowers. The control plants were treated with 3% sucrose. The study was based on a completely randomized design with three replications. The results showed that the longest vase life was 22.66 days obtained from 10 mg L-1 SNP, which did not differ significantly from the treatments of 12 hours of blue light irradiation (22.00 days) and 20 mg L-1 SNP (21.66 days). The lowest fresh weight losses were observed in the treatments of blue light for 18 and 12 hours and SNP at the rate of 10 mg L-1, respectively. The highest dry matter percentage (57.34 %) was related to the plants treated with 10 mg L-1 SNP. The flowers irradiated with blue light for 12 hours had the highest chlorophyll a and b (2.52 and 1.27 mg g-1 FW, respectively), the highest catalase activity (5.26 nmol g-1 FW min-1), and the lowest polyphenol oxidase activity (0.007 μmol g-1 FW min-1). The lowest vase solution bacterial population was obtained from the application of 15 mg L-1 SNP and the highest petal protein from the irradiation of blue light for 24 hours. SNP was effective in controlling Gram-negative bacteria, and blue light was effective in controlling Gram-positive bacteria in the vase solution. It is inferred from the results that blue light, as a physical factor, is effective in preserving the vase life and relevant traits in the cut Alstroemeria ‘Napoli’ flowers.

The cyclamen (Myrsinascea) as the flowers growing in some temperate regions, are of high ecological and botanical importance and endangered as well. Therefore, to provide an opportunity to identify and protect its species, Iranian native cyclamen was studied. Plants were collected (in winter and spring) from three northern provinces of Iran, i.e., Guilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan, and their morphological traits (14 quantitative and 10 qualitative traits) were assessed. Based on the analysis of variance, there were significant differences in some recorded traits, e.g., leaf number, flower number, flower color, and flower and leaf shape, which would allow selecting plants with more optimal traits. The cluster analysis divided the plants into three groups. Accordingly, the plants collected from the Shadan region in Golestan province and those collected from the Sinava and Shahsheshmeh regions in Chalus County, Mazandaran province differed from the plants collected from the other regions. The plants were collected from the Abpari and Lavij regions in Nur County, the Pasand region in Behshahr County, the Qarnabad region in Gorgan County, and the Deylaman region in Siahkal County were placed in the same group due to their similar morphology although they had been collected from three different provinces. The first group included the cyclamens of the Qarnabad region in Gorgan County, the Lavij region in Nur County, the Deylaman region in Siahkal County, the Pasand region in Behshahr County, and the Abpari region in Nur County. These plants had lowly toothed leaf margins, long petals, and few seeds. The second group included the cyclamens of the Shadan region in Kordkuy County. These plants had longer and heavier hypocotyls, larger and wider leaves, and smaller flowers. They showed the highest number of seeds, hypocotyl diameter, length, and weight, flower number, leaf length and width, leaf area, petiole and peduncle length, and peduncle diameter. The third group included the cyclamens of the Sinava and Shahsheshmeh regions in Chalus County. They had the highest petal width but the lowest peduncle diameter, leaf length, width, and area, flower and leaf number, and hypocotyl weight, length, and diameter.  The cyclamens native to Iran are highly diverse in morphological traits and they need to be further investigated by cytogenetic, phytochemical, and molecular methods.

Sansevieria zeylanica is a species of xerophytic perennial herbs with a wide range of distribution found in dry tropical and subtropical parts of the world. It is a wonderful medicinal plant and holds the widespread range of beneficial properties. The aim of the study is to determine the cytotoxic activities of the human breast cancer - MDA-MB-231 cell lines and to evaluate the anti-microbial activities by employing the methanolic leaf extracts of S. zeylanica plants. The main experiment was to determine the susceptibility of a microbial organisms against the methanolic leaf extracts of S. zeylanica. The percentage growth inhibition was calculated and concentration of sample to inhibit cell growth by 50 % (IC50) values was generated for the percentage viability. The leaf extracts produced from S. zeylanica plants showed a cytotoxic effect against the human breast cancer - MDA-MB-231 cell lines. The IC50 value of 1167.78 µg/ ml was obtained for the MDA-MB-231 cell lines after the exposure of 24 h treatment. The increase in cell death of MDA-MB-231 cell lines with an increase in the concentration indicates that the methanolic leaf extract of S. zeylanica plants was found active. For the first time, we made an attempt to examine the biological properties of methanolic leaf extracts from S. zeylanica plants with reference to their wide applications. The results obtained support for the therapeutic applications and this acts as an anti-microbial agent. These studies showed the results from the phytochemical screening, anti-microbial and cytotoxic activities of S. zeylanica indicating that this plant as a “natural herbal source”. This can be used for its pharmaceutical and pharmacological applications in a large-scale industry.

Various theories have been proposed about the tilted, zig-zag patterned Platanus orientalis L. trees in the center of Tehran. The increasing number of these trees has led to this study to determine the soil characteristics and distance parameters associated with this species. This research employs recent data from Tehran’s District 11 Municipality. The District 11 Municipal Green Space Center is located in Razi Park, where the soil parameters were measured. We measured 170 tilted trees and examined more than 40 traffic signs in District 11 Municipality of Tehran. This study modeled one tree with various conditions of saturated soil using 2D Plaxis software to understand the influence of different factors on tilted Platanus orientalis L. and explain the mechanistic relationships that create the zig-zag growth pattern. In this research we realized in a creative way that the soil moisture and the distance of trees from each other are two effective reasons that trees and traffic signs tilt and sunlight and wind are not important in this pattern. The main cause of tilting zig-zag patterned in Tehran urban trees is the soil layer settlement and specific distance from each other which can occur to any kinds of trees.