A Study on the Propagation of Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum L.) as an Endangered Species by Seeds and Forced Bulbs

Snowflake is an ornamental-medicinal plant species native to the North of Iran. The production of this plant outside its natural habitat was studied in two separate experiments including (i) Seed propagation by the seeds primed with a temperature of 4 ºC, 24 ºC, or 27 ºC, gibberellic acid (GA) at a rate of 50 or 100 mg L-1, and KNO3 at a rate of 0.1% or 0.2 % and (ii) Propagation by the bulbs forced at a temperature of 4 ºC, 24 ºC, or 27 ºC for 8 weeks, 4 ºC for 4 weeks + 27 ºC for 4 weeks, or 27ºC for 4 weeks + 4ºC for 4 weeks. The results of seed priming showed that the seeds treated with 4ºC or 27ºC did not germinate. The best treatment for increasing germination percentage, germination rate, seedling length, and seedling length vigor was 100 mg L-1 GA. Among the treatments that led to seed germination, the lowest values of the recorded traits were related to the seeds treated with 24 ºC and 0.2 % KNO3. The results of bulb forcing revealed that the treatment of the dormant bulbs with 4 ºC for 8 weeks was not appropriate for their flowering. The highest number of flowers (2.66 flowers), flower diameter (21.70 mm), days from bulb planting to flowering termination (149.5 days), and leaf number (6 leaves) were related to the bulbs treated with 27 ºC for 8 weeks, but this treatment had the longest time to bud emergence (117.5 days), so it is not a good treatment for bulb forcing although it performed the best in terms of flower and leaf number, flower diameter, and the number of days from bulb planting to flowering termination. The shortest time to bud emergence (78.3 days) was obtained from the bulbs treated with 27 ºC for 4 weeks + 4 ºC for 4 weeks. So, this is recommended for snowflake forcing.