Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Summer 2021

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.

To study the effect of  “cycloheximide” and amino acids of arginine and proline  on post-harvest longevity of cut Alstroemeria × hybrid ‘Mars’ flowers, a factorial experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete design with 3 replications and 20 treatments. The experiment includes CHI at 4 levels (0, 50, 100, 1000 µM), amino acid (AA) at 5 levels [0, 5, 10 mM (Arg) and 5, 10 mM proline] in terms of 24 h pulse. The results showed that flowers treated with “CHI50 x Pro10” had the most vase-life (9.3 days), water uptake (1.771 ml g-1 F.W.), and dry material (13.56 %), the least MDA aggregation (1.32 nmol g-1 F.W.), and the most CAT enzyme activity (5.68 nmol g-1 F.W. min-1). The treatment of “CHI10 x Arg5” was one of the most successful treatments in water uptake, wet weight, dry material, and total protein preservation, and MDA aggregation decrease, SOD enzyme activity increase, and took the second place in vase-life increase (9.08 days). Therefore, the 2 treatments of “CHI0 x Arg5” and “CHI50 x Pro10” are presented as the most successful treatments in quantitative and qualitative trait’s improvement of cut Alstroemeria flowers. The lowest positive impact on the majority of analyzed traits belongs to the treatment of 1000 µM CHI. Therefore, the application of high levels of CHI (1000 µM) on vase-life solution of cut Alstroemeria × hybrid ‘Mars’ is not recommended due to negative and toxic impact on post-harvest traits.

Long vase life is the most important factor determining the economic value of cut flowers. The effect of the pulse treatment of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) was studied at four levels of 0, 20, 40, and 60 µM on the vase life of cut roses (Rosa hybrida L.), lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum), and sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) in a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete design with three replications and 12 treatments. The results showed that the longest vase life of cut roses (14.33 days) and sunflowers (14.5 days) were obtained from the application of 40 µM SNP whereas cut lisianthus flowers exhibited the longest vase life (14.00 days) when they were treated with 20 µM SNP. This treatment was the most effective in conserving the dry matter of cut roses. SNP significantly reduced ethylene synthesis in cut roses and lisianthus versus the control. The lowest ethylene synthesis in cut sunflowers (0.03 nl l-1 h-1 g-1 FW) was, however, obtained from the treatment of 60 µM SNP. SNP had no significant effect on water uptake, vase solution and stem-end bacterial population, and chlorophyll b. But, it significantly contributed to maintaining the protein content of the studied cut flowers. Overall, it can be said that SNP improves the postharvest longevity of cut roses, lisianthus, and sunflowers by suppressing ethylene synthesis and protecting proteins.

Urban parks and green spaces, like other urban spaces, are subject to erosion and need repair to sustain their environmental and social services. Citizens' priorities should be studied when improving urban green spaces. This study aims to identify the priorities and needs of citizens regarding the improvement of parks and public green spaces in Gorgan, Iran. The documentary and analytical survey in which data were mostly collected by distributing questionnaires among the residents of Gorgan. The results showed that the preferences of citizens varied with demographic variables and their socio-economic characteristics in some areas so that each group had its own needs. However, according to the citizens, the plant species of the parks and green spaces in Gorgan generally need to be diversified and this should be achieved by using all types of plants (broadleaf, coniferous, cover, and seasonal plants). Most people prioritized improving sanitation, supplying drinking water, and providing children's play equipment. Also, considering the needs of the disabled in the improvement of parks was the highest priority, and stone sidewalks were the most popular.

Marigolds are very common to plant kingdoms and used for ornamentation, religious offering, cosmetic production, medicinal purposes and animal feed. The study was conducted to evaluate four marigold varieties i.e Karma Orange, Karma-I-Orange, Karma-555-Orange and Karma-777-Orange for their vegetative, floral and yield attributes. The experiment was laid out on Randomized Complete Block Design at three localities of Nepal i.e. Kaski, Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts and conducted from August 2019 to January 2020. Data on predetermined parameters were collected and analyzed by using R-program (version 4.0.5). Varieties location and interaction between them showed significant variation for almost all parameters. Marigold production was more favourable under the Kaski condition as plant height, plant spread, number of flowers/plant and yield was higher than other locations. In addition, numbers of days taken by marigold varieties for the formation of flower bloom was significantly lower in Kaski condition. The variety Karma Orange had the maximum height (81.88 ± 5.18 cm) which is very susceptible for lodging and had minimum number of flowers (83.2 ± 3.78). Variety Karma-555-Orange produced highest numbers of flowers/plant (104.38 ±  9.46) and had medium sized flower with perfect ball shape, which is very suitable for making garlands. However, variety Karma-777-Orange had medium plant height (51.49 ± 2.67), produced not significantly different number of flowers than Karma-555-Orange (101.64 ± 6.57) and yield (1.86 ± 0.1 kg/plant) which is suitable for bedding, potting and cut flower production.

In order to investigate the effect of 1-MCP on some morphophysiological traits and display life of primrose, factorial experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design that includes two factors: 1-MCP at 6 levels (0, 50, 75, 100, 150 and 200 nl L-1), in three periods (18, 21 and 24 hours) with 18 treatments and 3 replications, 54 experimental plots and 270 primrose plants in the post-harvest room of the Faculty of Agriculture, Azad University, Rasht Branch with ambient temperature of 20 ± 2 ° C, relative humidity of 60 to 70%, light intensity of 15 to 20 μmol s-1 m-2 and day length were 12 hours. In this study, ethylene production, dry matter percentage, display life of primrose, protein content in the petals, chlorophyll "a" and "b" index, total chlorophyll and the ratio of number of open to closed floret were measured. The results obtained from the analysis of variance showed that the effect of duration was significant only on ethylene production and the amount of petal protein, but the concentration of 1- MCP was significant on all traits except display life. The interaction effect of duration and concentration of 1-MCP treatment on display life was statistically significant at the level of 5% and T3C5 treatment (24 hours + 150 nl L-1 1-MCP increased display life by 1.2 days compared to the control.