Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Winter 2014

The synthetic seed technology is becoming popular due to its wide application in germplasm conservation and for exchanges between countries in the floriculture trade. In this study, this method was used to study the germination and conversion capabilities of orchid species Dendrobium White Fairy when stored at different storage times and with different storage containers. A high germination percentage of 80% was observed for encapsulated synthetic seeds up to 150 days of storage in Petri dishes and screw capped polypropylene tubes and this percentage only began to decline gradually from 150 storage days and more. Besides that, synthetic seeds stored in polypropylene tubes were shown to germinate faster and develop into plantlets with longer shoots and roots as compared to those stored in the Petri dishes. This proved the efficiency and suitability of polypropylene tubes over Petri dishes as storage containers.

The synthetic seed technology is becoming popular due to its wide application in germplasm conservation and for exchanges between countries in the floriculture trade. In this study, this method was used to study the germination and conversion capabilities of orchid species Dendrobium White Fairy when stored at different storage times and with different storage containers. A high germination percentage of 80% was observed for encapsulated synthetic seeds up to 150 days of storage in Petri dishes and screw capped polypropylene tubes and this percentage only began to decline gradually from 150 storage days and more. Besides that, synthetic seeds stored in polypropylene tubes were shown to germinate faster and develop into plantlets with longer shoots and roots as compared to those stored in the Petri dishes. This proved the efficiency and suitability of polypropylene tubes over Petri dishes as storage containers.

In the present study, Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity in 20 varieties of Philodendron. The polymerase chain reaction was performed with 60 RAPD primers, out of which 21 primers showed clear amplification as well as more polymorphism. In total, 354 scorable RAPD loci with 348 polymorphic bands (98%) were observed. Percentages of polymorphic bands ranged from 80% to 100%. Amplified DNA fragments were used for statistical analysis. The data was obtained by scoring the bands and analyzed by using STATISTICA software. A dendrogram was obtained by cluster analysis based on the presence or absence of band which indicates similarity and diversities. The cluster analysis grouped the Philodendron varieties based on the growth habits, morphological characters and also geographical origin. This indicates that there is an association between the RAPD patterns and the geographic origin of the varieties used. The genetic diversity among the varieties was moderate, which might be due to genetically heterozygous and somaclonal variation.

Five carnation cultivars (‘Grand Salam’, ‘Nelson’, ‘Kaly’, ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Tempo’) were evaluated with respect to growth, yield and quality characteristics under lath house conditions at Kala Shah Kaku Research Station, Directorate of Floriculture, Lahore during 2011. Among the cultivars studied, maximum plant height was recorded in carnation cultivar ‘Grand Salam’ (78.66 cm) closely followed by ‘Kaly’ (78.23 cm) and ‘Cinderella’ (77.96 cm). Number of shoots was highest in cultivars ‘Tempo’ (6.3) and ‘Nelson’ (6.2). Maximum stem thickness was observed in ‘Nelson’ (6.21 mm) and minimum in ‘Grand Salam’ (3.63 mm). Maximum number of internodes per stem were found in ‘Nelson’ (12.66) followed by ‘Kely’ (11.33) and ‘Grand Salam” (11.00). Highest flower yield per plant was recorded in cultivars ‘Tempo’ (6.4) and ‘Nelson’ (6.33). Maximum number of flowers per square meter were recorded in cultivar ‘Nelson’ (198.3) followed by ‘Tempo’ (189.6). Hence it can be concluded that cultivars ‘Nelson’ and ‘Tempo’ were found superior with respect to growth and flower yield characteristics under lath house conditions.

Sod culture is one of the important methods in establishing and repairing of turf grass, especially in sport fields. Nowadays, a mixture of sand and peat are commonly used in sod production in Iran. Because peat media is expensive, it seems necessary to find an alternative medium. Rice hull, tea waste and leaf compost as economical organic material that are available in huge loads in north of Iran. The objective of this study was to evaluate the utilization of low cost organic matter on seed germination and uniformity of turf grass in sod production. Therefore a completely randomized design with 3 replications and 6 treatments: 1- mixture of leaf compost and sand (1:1) (v.v), 2- tea compost and sand (1:1) (v.v), 3- sand, 4- mixture of rice hull and sand (3:1) (v.v), 5- mixture of treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6- petri dish as control was carried out in the experimental field of agricultural school of Islamic Azad University, Chaloos branch during summer 2008. Turf grass species used was Lolium prenne. According to the results, it was revealed that the effect of different substrates was significant on seed germination percentage (p≤0.05). Results showed that mixture of rice hull and sand (3:1) (v.v) increased germination percentage over other treatments. This was probably related to high water retaining capacity and well aeration of rice hull. Furthermore, the lowest and highest uniformity rate was related to mixture treatment and sand media, respectively. It generally seems that these waste products can be used for this purpose economically and sustainably.

Maintaining quality and longevity of cut flowers is one of the critical issues in the floriculture industry, especially in cut flowers; and one of the most important problems in chrysanthemum, as one of the most popular cut flowers. Therefore, an experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design as pulse treatment with the three factors: tea extracts with 4 levels (5, 10, 20, and 40 %), 8-hydroxy quinoline sulfate with 4 levels (100, 200, and 400 mg l-1), and rifampicin with 3 levels (100, 200, and 400 mg l-1) on spray chrysanthemum (cv. Purple) with three replications. According to the results, the 20% tea extract treatment and 100 mg l-1 8-hydroxy quinoline sulfate treatment showed the highest vase life, petal protein, total chlorophyll, water absorption, and petal carotenoid.

In vitro propagation of rose has played a very important role in rapid multiplication of species with desirable traits and production of healthy and disease-free plants. Micropropagation using nodal segments of Rosa canina under different combinations of BAP, GA3 and NAA on MS and VS, medium was investigated. The results showed that the highest shoot proliferation was obtained on VS medium containing 2 mg/L BAP without any GA3 and NAA. Furthermore the highest root regeneration obtained in half strength VS medium. The present investigation recommended a practiciable in vitro plant protocol for R. canina as an important step for successful implementation of biotechnological techniques for rose improvement in Iran.

Stress management is considered as an important factor in nowadays landscape. Therefore this research was conducted using a factorial experiment based on a randomized completely design with regulated deficit irrigation at four levels (100, 75, 50, and 25% of lawn irrigation requirement) and three replicates to evaluate some biochemical and physiological traits on four groundcover plants (Lolium perenne, Potentilla spp., Trifolium repens and Frankinia spp.) with the potential use in landscape. Results showed that Frankinia spp. and 75% lawn irrigation requirement bears the highest proline content with same amount (0.84 mg/g fresh weight) and on the other hand highest (32.61 mg/g fresh weight) and lowest (15.95 mg/g fresh weight) chlorophyll content was shown in control (irrigation treatments) and Frankinia spp., respectively. For total soluble carbohydrates content, highest amount (1.54 mg/g fresh weight) belongs to Lolium perenne whereas the lowest (0.79 mg/g fresh weight) belongs to Trifolium repens. Trifolium repens also had the most DPPH free radical-scavenging assay (75.05%) among species. In general, regulated deficit irrigation affects different biochemical characteristics of examined groundcover plants significantly, but as a managing method applying it to below the damaging point for landscape plants can be a good method for water consumption management in this manner.