Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:11 Issue: 4, Autumn 2021

Lilium ledebourii is a native and endangered rare species in Iran. It requires a cold period for proper growth and flowering. This experiment was performed to investigate the effects of cold storage on changes of endogenous abscisic acid (ABA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA3), sucrose, fructose, glucose, and total saponin during dormancy of Lilium ledebourii bulbs. The bulbs of lily were stored at 1 or 7 ºC, for 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days, and after each period removed from storage and analyzed using HPLC system. The results indicated that, cold storage at 1 ºC for 120 days decreased the levels of ABA while, 7 ºC in the same duration increased its content, slightly. The levels of IAA increased at 1 ºC storage, while remained almost constant at 7 ºC. Cold treatment at 1 ºC increased the levels of GA3, while storage at 7 ºC caused slight decrease in its content. Sucrose and fructose concentrations increased in both temperatures during the storage, while minor reduction in glucose content was observed. Storage at 7 ºC for 120 days induced the highest content of total saponin. The magnitude of changes in hormones and soluble sugars measured at 1 ºC was greater than that at 7 ºC.

Essential oil of Iranian damask rose has a high quality because of the desired climatic and growing conditions.  Plant genotype as well as climatic conditions by affecting the amount of rose water, essential oils and the other by-products increases its economic value. In the present study, a RCBD design was conducted to investigate the morphology and phytochemical characteristics of six damask rose landraces, collected from east Azerbaijan province. Investigated landraces showed a significant difference among morphological traits. According to morphological characteristics landraces were grouped in two distinct classes including, with thorn and without thorn. Qazi Jahan, Nadilu and Kharaju landraces (without thorn) were the most suitable ecotypes in terms of flower yield and growth. Interestingly, the fresh and dry weight of petals, buds and flowers and number of buds per branch as well as essential oil content had a positive and significant correlation with flower yield. Essential oil analysis showed that citronellol, geraniol and n-nonadecane were the major components of rose landraces. The amount of citronellol in genotypes with thorn wild was higher than others. On the other hand, n.nonadecane was the dominant components in genotype without thorn. Our results demonstrated that there are significant differences among two classes of genotypes (with/without thorn) in terms of essential oil quality and flower yield. Among the 16 morphological traits in addition to yield and the percentage of essential oil, petal fresh/dry weigh, flower fresh weight, petal length/width and number of petals were important indices that influenced yield and percentage of essential oil of damask rose. There was a significant difference in odor of thorny landraces with the others without thorn. There was no significant difference in leaf length and width and number of branches per area between different landraces. These differences introduce a new variety of damask rose for breeding program and industry.

The method of fertilization and fertilizing the soil and culture substrates has an important role in the quantitative and qualitative production of agricultural and horticultural products. Four types of fertilizer formulas with different ratios of N, P and K and constant amounts of micronutrients were prepared as complete liquid fertilizers in the Soil Science Laboratory of Sheikh Baha'i Laboratory Complex, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran. In a randomized complete design, the effect of thirteen different fertilizer treatments along with a control including the use of different fertilizers at different times of vegetative and reproductive growth and each treatment in four replications on the growth of Tagetes was evaluated. Vegetative growth indices including final plant height, number of flowers and lateral branches, fresh and dry weight of roots, flowers and shoots were evaluated. Overall results showed that different fertilization methods and different fertilizer formulas had a positive effect on plant growth compared to the control. Changes in plant growth were significant compared to the control in fertilization methods and formulas. The best effect on plant growth was seen in treatment number 6 and this treatment is recommended for the growth of this variety of Tagetes. In this treatment, in the fourth week of planting seedlings from the first formula including the base ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, 15-15-15 and in the fifth and sixth weeks of the second formula including the ratio of base nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, 15-20 -30, was used.

Native tree species can be a good candidate for growing in urban green spaces as per the climate of each region due to their high adaptation, high resistance to environmental stresses, low maintenance costs, and low water requirement owing to reliance on rainfall. This research aimed to explore the aesthetic aspect of native ornamental trees in the city of Rasht, Iran. So, the aesthetic traits and characteristics of 14 native tree species were recorded by observing them in nature. After 11 aesthetic parameters were determined, an opinion poll was conducted among experts with a questionnaire designed by information collected. The trees were evaluated by theanalytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the results were analyzed by the Expert Choice software package. Based on the findings, the three species of Zelkovacarpinifolia, Parrotiapersica, and Acer cappadecicum were the most suitable and the three species of PopuluscaspicaBornm.,Gleditsiacaspica, and Juniperusfoetidissima were the least suitable from an aesthetic viewpoint. It is also concluded that from an aesthetic perspective, deciduous broadleaf tree species are more beautiful in different seasons than evergreen narrow-leaf species in the study site, so they are more capable of being used in urban green spaces.

Tuberose is an valuable ornamental plant with a high economic value, which is among the five leading cut flowers of the world. The major obstacle hindering the development of cut flower exports, especially tuberoses, is their short postharvest vase life caused by the disruption of the plant’s water relations due to growth and an increase in vase solution microbial load. The quality and longevity of flowers are highly dependent on their stem stability and antioxidant systems. This research investigated the effect of Nano-silver (NS) applied to the cut flowers of tuberoses cv. ‘Dezfuli’ in 24 h pulse treatments in a randomized complete design. The cut flowers were treated with NS at four rates (0 as control, 10, 20, and 30 mg/L) along with 3% sucrose. Then, the treated flowers were fully immersed in deionized water. The results showed that the application of NS treatment positively increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes and improved postharvest conditions in Polianthes tuberosa L. (cut tuberose flower). Moreover, NS reduced the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) in flower stems and also had a positive effect on the rate of chlorophyll increase compared to the control. NS extended the postharvest vase life of the treated flowers versus the control and increased solution uptake and fresh weight of the cut flowers. In this experiment, the 10 mg/L rate of NS exhibited the best results.

A study was conducted on increasing the postharvest quality and vase life of cut Strelitzia reginae flowers based on a randomized complete design with 10 treatments in three replications. The experimental treatments included cobalt chloride (CoCl2) (250 and 500 mg L-1), cerium nitrate (Ce (NO3)3) (100, 300, and 600 µM), silver nanoparticle (SNP) (20 and 40 mg L-1), and Nanosil (2000 and 4000 µM) applied as the 24-hour pulse. Distilled water was used as the control. Results showed that the longest vase life (11.68 days) was obtained from the application of 300 µM Ce(NO3)3, but it did not significantly differ from the treatments of 100 and 600 µM Ce (NO3)3, 500 mg L-1 CoCl2, and 20 mg L-1 SNP. The best treatments in increasing water uptake and dry matter, preserving fresh weight, and reducing stem-end and vase solution bacteria were 300 and 600 µM Ce (NO3)3. The lowest malondialdehyde accumulation (0.09 nmol g-1 FW) and the highest activity of peroxidase (0.147 nmol g-1 FW) and catalase (1.02 nmol g-1 FW) were obtained from the plants treated with 300 µM Ce(NO3)3 in the vase solution. The highest sepal flavonoid (0.493 %) was related to the treatment of 2000 µM Nanosil. The control plants exhibited the greatest loss of fresh weight and the lowest values of the recorded traits. Based on the results, it is recommended to use a vase solution containing 300 µM Ce (NO3)3 and 3 % sucrose to preserve the quality and increase postharvest vase life of cut S. reginae flowers.