Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Spring 2011

Orchard intensification is motivated by the desire to produce fruit early in the life of the orchard to rapidly recover establishment costs. Intensification is possible using dwarfing rootstocks that control tree size, induce early cropping and produce large quantities of fruit compared to the amount of wood produced. Therefore, this study attempts to compare some yield and fruit properties of five apple cultivars grown in Karaj, Iran. The concerned apple cultivars were ‘Golab-kohans’, ‘Fuji’, ‘Starking’, ‘Delbar estival’ and ‘Gala’ that were grafted on M.9 rootstock which were trained in ‘Gutingen V’ system. All trees were planted in winter 2005. The trees were irrigated since the second year after planting as drip irrigation. Results showed that ‘Golab-kohans’ had the highest vegetative traits include TCSA (11.30 cm2), shoot growth (185.30 cm) and tree height (325.32 cm). Also ‘Delbar estival’ had the highest amount of yield / tree (6.2 kg), yield efficiency (1 kg/cm2) and fruit weight (147.52 g). ‘Starking’ owned the highest fruit firmness (15.27 kg/cm2), dry matter (32.86 %) and ash (0.82 %). In addition, ‘Gala’ had the most TSS (16.12), pH (4.02), fruit length (5.79 cm) and fruit diameter (6.68 cm). ‘Fuji’ had the greatest L/D (0.89), TA (0.74 %) and fruit sunburn (56.23 %).

Wild jujube, Ziziphus lotus, is a multipurpose xerophytic shrub of the Rhamnaceae family widely distributed in arid and semi-arid regions of Tunisia, where it occupies most soil types. The fruit is the edible part of the plant by local population. The reintroduction of this shrub requires the control of its multiplication in response to water shortage. This study aims to evaluate growth and water relations of wild jujube seedlings under water deficit stress. After multiplication and growth under well-watered conditions, water deficit stress was imposed to seedlings by controlled deficit irrigation to 40 and 70% of field capacity (FC) for 15, 30 and 45 days. Soil of control plants was maintained at 100% FC throughout the experiments. Best growth was recorded for control plants, while water deficit successively reduced dry matter production and leaf number per plant. In addition, relative water content of leaves and branch water potential decreased significantly under severe drought stress. Plants subjected to 40% FC, accumulated respectively, 1.5 and 15-fold more soluble sugars and proline in leaves than controls. There was a strong negative relationship identified between leaf proline concentration and branch water potential with R2 = 0.85, reflecting the importance of this amino acid ability for osmotic adjustment in Z. lotus.

This experiment was carried out to increase the shelf life and maintaining the quality of mango (Mangifera indica) fruits. There were two factors. Factor A: postharvest treatments with six levels (1. untreated (control), 2. washing with chlorine, 3. dipping (5 minutes) in calcium chloride (CaCl2), 4. dipping (5 minutes) in bavistin and rinse in clean water, 5. hot water treatment and 6. tap water wash) and factor B: packaging technique with five levels (1. without packaging (control), 2. perforated poly bag (0.5%), 3. non- perforated poly bag, 4. plastic crate and 5. corrugated fibre board carton). The fruits treated with chlorine wash, tap water wash, hot water treatment, dipping in calcium chloride and bavistin were significant difference on chemical parameter (total sugar content, vitamin-C, total titrable acidity and total soluble solid) of mango. Treated fruits performed less disease incidence compared to without treated fruits. Non-treated fruits were attacked by the sunken black spots on the surface of the fruits as well as anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides). In case of packaging technique, fruits packed in different packaging materials (like corrugated fibre board carton, plastic crate, perforate and non-perforated polyethylene bag) had the maximum shelf life, lower physiological loss in weight and less disease incidence than without package. Among the different packaging materials, fruits packed in corrugated fibre board carton had the maximum shelf life (13.02 days), lower physiological loss in weight (4.11%) and less disease incidence (1.12%) without excessive deterioration compared to others. The shelf life of mango could be extended up to 5 days by hot water treatment and packed in. corrugated fibre board carton compared to others. The color and quality of mango was very better in treated fruits compared to non-treated fruits.

Mulberry (Morus spp.) is a perennial tree cultivated for its foliage to rear the domesticated silkworm, Bombyx mori L. Mulberry has improved through conventional breeding in general aims to improve the quantity and quality of leaf yield, which have direct bearing on silk productivity. Leaf senescence is one of the major constraints, which restricts the quantity of quality leaf availability for silkworm rearing. High yielding mulberry varieties often show leaf fall in the range of 20 – 33% in tropical sericultural belts. Hence, in order to increase the leaf availability, it is essential to delay the senescence of leaves. Keeping this in view, the present study was undertaken on 9 mulberry genotypes, which were developed systematically for delayed senescence. The interrelationship among factors that contribute to growth, yield and low foliar senescence were investigated. Correlation between agronomic traits and leaf yield revealed the existence of strong positive associations among plant height, total shoot length (TSL), nodal distance (ND), leaf fall (LF), number of leaves/ plant (NLP), fresh and dry weight of 100 leaves (FWL & DWL), leaf area (LA), leaf area index (LAI), above ground biomass (AGB) with leaf yield. However, leaf harvest index (LHI) had a strong negative correlation with leaf fall % and leaf yield. Significant improvement in the important growth and yield attributing characters viz., FWL, DWL, LA, AGB, LHI and LAI contributed to a higher yield in CT44. Path co-efficient analysis revealed the direct positive effect of the characters viz., AGB (1.233), LHI (0.449), NLP (0.217), and LA (0.181), on leaf yield. From the studies it is concluded that low leaf fall coupled with high LHI can be considered for the selection of varieties with delayed leaf senescence in mulberry.

Mulches bring several benefits to lettuce cultivation.A study on the lettuce ‘Red Rapids’ has been conducted to determine the influence of the different colored plastic mulch on its growth. The experiment consisted of five color treatments as follows; treatment 1- metallic silver (control), treatment 2- red, treatment 3- orange, treatment 4- yellow and treatment 5- green. Results showed that the colored mulch treatments had significant influenced on the different parameters including: root length at harvest, average leaf length, leaf diameter, plant height, plant weight, number of leaves at harvest and percentage survival. Lettuce grown in red mulch had significantly outperformed the other colored treatments.

Many factors may influence the efficiency of somatic embryogenesis. This capability may be differ with regard to media compositions, genotype, tissue, organ ontology and the stage of differentiation. The effects of five salicylic acid concentrations (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 μM) on different stages of carrot somatic embryogenesis were studied using petiole and root secondary phloem explants as starting materials. The salicylic acid treatments were applied in two culture media; B5 and NL supplemented with 0.5 mgl- 1 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and 1.0 mgl-1 Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), respectively. The chlorogenic acid (CGA) levels produced by the explants during embryogenesis were monitored using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique. The results proved that petioles are superior explants over root secondary phloems with regard to somatic embryogenesis. The B5 medium also exhibited induction of greater number of embryos over NL medium. The results of the present study unequivocally suggest that, irrespective of the type of explants and media culture, SA increments beyond than 75 μM negatively affect carrot somatic embryogenesis. A considerable elevation in CGA production during embryogenesis following SA treatments was also found. Chlorogenic acid produced by cultures was coincided with the SA treatments almost as the same manner that it affects somatic embryogenesis process. Salicylic acid at the rate of 100 μM induced highest level of CGA production and as result least number of embryos was formed.

Two factorial experiments were conducted to study the interactive effects of four levels of sucrose (0, 20, 40 and 60 g l-1), two levels of citric acid (0 and 160 mg l-1) and two levels of one of the following compounds (aluminum sulphate, 0 and 160 mg l-1 and silver nitrate, 0 and 120 g l-1) on vase life and quality attributes of lisianthus cut flowers ‘Mariachi blue fonce.’ The experiments carried out a randomized complete block design with three replications. After 34 days of storage at 20± 2 oC the amount of water absorption, relative water content and opened flower buds were determined. According to the results application of 60 g l-1 sucrose in combination with citric acid led to the highest vase life (31 days). The highest relative water content (82.37%) and also the highest percentage of opened flower buds were obtained in flowers treated with 60 g l-1 sucrose and 160 mg l-1 aluminum sulphate.

Rose (Rosa hybrida L.) is one of the mostly cultivated cut flowers in Iran and around the world. The study was carried out to increase the vase life and quality of cut rose ‘Grand Prix` and ‘Avallanche` by using various floral preservative solutions. Floral preservative solutions were AgNO3, 8-HQS, nano silver and distilled water. Treatments were compared with tap water as control. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design. The effects of applied treatments on longevity and quality of cut rose flowers were evaluated by using the percentage of opening the flower, flower diameter, the vase life and relative fresh weight. Results showed that the flowers treated with 8-HQS (250 mg l-1) + nano silver (2mg l-1) had the highest flower diameter and the percentage of opening the flower among treatments. Maximum vase life (14.33 d) of cut rose obtained with (nano silver 2mg l-1), and minimum (6.54 d) with AgNO3. The vase life of control was 5.79 d.