Effect of Different Calcium Concentrations on Quality Parameters of Two Rose Cultivars under Hydroponic Culture

Calcium is one the most important essential elements in plant growth and development. This element influences many physiological aspects of plant tissues even after harvesting. Calcium has also an important role in integrity and hardness of plant cells. In addition، calcium content of many horticultural crops is seen as a quality factor. Therefore، in this research effect of different calcium concentrations of nutrient solution on growth and development of two cut rose cultivars (Utopia and Dolce Vita) were investigated. This experiment was conducted as factorial based on completely randomized design during 2011. The factors were cultivar with two levels and calcium in four concentrations of 150، 220، 300 and 400 mg/l. The total number of treatments was 8 with 5 replications. The results showed that the effects of cultivar and calcium levels were significant on measured parameters. The analysis of variance of data showed that there were significant differences (p < 0. 05) for some parameters including: length and diameter of flower stem and vase life of cut flower between two cultivars. Results also showed that with increasing calcium concentrations in nutrient solution the overall trend was to increase flowering parameters (p < 0. 05). Therefore، increasing calcium levels up to 400 mg/l resulted in improvement of flowering parameters in both cultivars.