Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:10 Issue: 1, Winter 2020

In order to investigate the effect of humic acid (HA) and nano-calcium chelate on the cut flowers of gerbera cv. Dune, an experiment was performed as a completely randomized design with two factors and three replications in hydroponic conditions. The first factor included humic acid at 4 concentrations of 0 (control), 500, 1000, and 2000 mg L-1 as drench and the second factor was assigned to nano-calcium chelate at 4 concentrations of 0 (control), 1, 2 and 3 g L-1 as foliar application. The recorded growth traits included the flower and flowering stem diameter of gerbera cv. Dune, leaf and flowering stem length, and leaf fresh and dry weight. The biochemical traits were anthocyanins, carotenoids, total soluble sugars, and phenolic compounds. The results showed that leaf length and fresh and dry weight were influenced by HA so that with the increase in HA concentration, an increase was observed in leaf length and dry weight. The highest flowering stem diameter was observed in the plants exposed to 2000 mg L-1 HA and 0 g L-1 nano calcium chelate. Flower and flowering stem diameter were increased at higher HA rates. Total soluble sugars and phenolic compounds were affected by the application of HA. Overall, the concurrent application of HA and nano calcium chelate improved the growth and biochemical traits of Gerbera, and approximately 2000 mg/l humic acid and 2 g/l nano-calcium chelate were the most effective.

Alstroemeria (Alstroemeria hybrida) is one of the most important cut flowers in the world. The aim of this study is investigating on the effect of dill and cumin essential oils on physiological and microbiological traits of alstroemeria cut flowers. Hydro-distillation method and GC isolated the essential oils of seed and GC/MS examined the chemical compositions of the samples. This experiment carried out as factorial based on completely randomized design with two factors of essential oils of dill and cumin (50 and 100 ppm). The second factor was used of methods (pre-harvest, post-harvest). The results showed that the dill essential oil treatment (100 ppm) in pre-harvest was the best treatment for all known traits. 11 colonies of bacteria were identified in stem end of cut alstroemeria flowers; which are E-coli, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Proteus, Serratia, Citrobacter, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, Bacillus cereus and Actinomycetes. Due to the positive impact of dill essential oil (100 ppm) in the pre-harvest method in improving traits associated with vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers, these treatments are recommended.

The strong antioxidant activity of Pelargonium graveolens is well established. The question addressed in this study was whether different concentrations of exogenous ascorbic acid (AsA) and iron (Fe) could influence the antioxidant activity and total phenol content (TPC) of geranium. Thus, three levels of Fe (0, 20 and 40 µM) and three levels of AsA (0, 1 and 2 mM) in the nutrient solution were combined factorially based on a completely randomized design with six replications, and chlorophyll content, TPC, and antioxidant activities of the leaves were measured. The results showed that oil content, ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and catalase (CAT) activities were increased in leaf samples under Fe starvation, regardless of the AsA concentration. The highest peroxidase (POD) activity was observed in samples treated with 20 µM Fe and 1 mM AsA. The highest total chlorophyll content was produced in plants treated with 40 µM Fe along with 1 mM AsA. TPC was increased with an increase in Fe concentration. Despite the positive effect of AsA on the pigment contents, plants treated with AsA showed lower TPC under all Fe concentrations. In total, lower Fe nutrition increased oil content and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activity of geranium. AsA application increased oil content while decreased total phenol and antioxidant activity in this plant.

The research aimed to produce new genotypes by hybridization. It was conducted in the Ornamental Plants Research Center of Mahallat from 2016 to 2018. Four varieties of gladiolus including Amsterdam, White Prosperity, Advance Red and Rose Supreme were chosen for hybridization. The progenies were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The highest heritability in traits was estimated to be 98.46% for cormlet number and diameter and the lowest was 12.90% for crown diameter. These results indicate that most traits have a very low phenotypic and genetic diversity coefficient, indicating that they had lower environmental effects since the progenies were cultivated under similar and controlled conditions. The results of the factor analysis, based on the eight assessed traits, showed that the four factors accounted for 60.90% of the total variance. The first factor captured 22.80% of the variance and among its traits, crown diameter and leaf number had the highest positive coefficients. The progenies OPRC07 and OPRC09 derived from Red Advance × White Prosperity and Amsterdam × Advance Red had a significant difference with others and had the highest cormlet weight compared to the progenies tested. The progeny OPRC09 was superior to other cormlets in leaf length, leaf width, stem diameter, leaf number, days to germination, and cormlet weight and diameter. Also, the progeny OPRC04 was superior in cormlet production by producing 2.49 cormlets per seed.

In order to evaluate the different growing media and nitrogen fertilizer (urea) on some morphological traits of Spathiphyllum plant, an experiment was carried out in split plot arrangement based on completely randomized design in three replications in greenhouse conditions in 2018. The main plot consisted of different growing media including T1: Leaf-mold, T2: Vermicompost and T3: A mixture growing medium (peatmoss 20% + cocopeat 50% + perlite 30%) and the subplot was different amounts of urea fertilizer as 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 g/L. Results showed that the mixture growing medium plus 2 g/L urea fertilizer caused significant positive effects on all traits. According to the results of interaction effects, the highest shoot fresh weight (26.5 g/plant), shoot dry weight (3.75 g/plant), root fresh weight (35.5 g/plant), root dry weight (4.87g/plant), length petiole (55.1 cm), and leaf number (12.1) were obtained in the mixture growing medium plus 2 g/L urea fertilizer, while the traits were least in all the studied growing media plus 0 g/L urea fertilizer. Urea fertilizer from 0 to 2 g/L increased the shoot dry weight and petiole length while urea fertilizer in 3 and 4 g/L decreased them. The growing media with EC of 2 dS/m, high porosity, and high water holding capacity can have significant effects on improving morphologic traits of Spathiphyllum plant.

Plants are influenced inevitably by environmental stresses due to their immobility. Sound waves are one of these environmental factors affecting plants. This study was designed to understand the relationship between sound waves and plant responses that is still low knowledge. For this purpose, Salvia splendens, one of the common plants in urban green spaces, were influenced by sound waves with a frequency of 1000 Hz and at intensities of 90, 100 and 110 dB and control for an hour each day, during one month. Seedling were obtained from seeds of Salvia, cultivated in MS medium, in-vitro condition and were subculture every 20 days. Treatments started in 15 days after planting the seed. The results of growth and antioxidant enzyme activities showed that sound waves cause increment of plant growth as the sound waves intensity increases in frequency of 1000 Hz. Maximum root and shoot length, fresh and dry weight were observed at 110 dB. Sound waves cause increment of the protein content and catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzymes activity. Malondialdehyde content increased with the increment of intensity. Overall, Salvia splendens responded to sound wave stress by improving growth, physiological and biochemical parameters.