Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:12 Issue: 4, Autumn 2022

Baby’s breath has value as an ornamental in floriculture and is a major export for several countries. To maintain the production of baby’s breath, proper nutrient management by application of nutrient sources favorable for ornamental flowering plants is advised. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the performance of a baby’s breath in terms of growth, yield, and return on investment as influenced by different concoctions and rates of inorganic fertilizers.  An area of 100.80 m2 was laid out into five blocks adopting the 4 × 4 factorial experiment in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The treatments were designated as follows: For factor A (concoction) – C0-without concoction; C1-fermented plant juice at 2 v/v%; C2-fermented fruit juice at 2 v/v%; C3-calcium phosphate at 5 v/v%, and factor B (inorganic fertilizer) – F0-without fertilizer; F1-90-60-60 N, P2O5, K2O ha-1; F2-45-30-30 N, P2O5, K2O ha-1; F3-25-15-15 N, P2O5, K2O ha-1.  The concoctions and the inorganic fertilizer at 25-15-15 N, P2O5, K2O ha-1 both gave a significant plant height to the baby’s breath at 28 DAP. The calcium phosphate at 5 v/v% plus 25-15-15 N, P2O5, K2O ha-1 (T15) was the best combination for improving the plant height of the baby’s breath at 28 DAP, however, all fertilizers affected the baby’s breath similarly to no fertilizer applied in terms of the production of suckers, flowers, and marketable flowers for three months of raising. Thus, the monetary return was negative.

The research aimed to explore the active ingredients of rue extract and essential oil as an ornamental and medicinal plant species and to assess their antimicrobial activity. So, rue shoots were collected from the natural habitat of this species in the elevations of Chaboksar, Guilan province in October and November 2019. The leaves and stems were oven-dried at 75 °C for 24 hours, and their extracts and essential oils were extracted with a Clevenger. The active ingredients of the extracts and essential oils were detected with GC-MS. The most abundant compounds in the leaf essential oil, stem essential oil, leaf extract, and stem extract were found to be hexadecanoic acid, isomaturnin, 2-ethyl-1,3,4,5,6,7,8-heptamethy, and 12-methoxy-19-norpodocarpa, respectively. The microbial assay by the disk diffusion method on the strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Escherichia coli showed that the leaf and stem extracts were most influential in inhibiting A. baumannii. The assessment of MIC and MBC revealed that S. aureus was the most sensitive bacterium to the leaf and stem essential oils with the lowest MIC and MBC and A. baumannii was the most sensitive bacterium to the leaf extract with the lowest MBC. So, rue extract and essential oil can be used as an antimicrobial compound against human pathogenic bacteria.

The effect of different substrates was studied on the growth of common ivy (Hedera helix) in a pot experiment based on a completely randomized design with five treatments and three replications in a research greenhouse in the Ornamental Plants Research Center of Lahijan. The experimental treatments were composed of five substrates including (B1) 50 % Azolla compost + 40 % peanut shell compost + 10 % perlite, (B2) 50 % Azolla compost + 40 % peanut shell compost + 10% zeolite, (B3) 30 % Azolla compost + 30 % peanut shell compost + 30 % tea waste compost + 10% perlite, (B4) 30 % Azolla compost + 30 % peanut shell compost + 30 % tea waste compost + 10 % zeolite, and (B5) 80 % peat + 20 % perlite. The results showed that the plant height, leaf number, auxiliary branch number and diameter, the number of nodes, and leaf chlorophyll content, which are the decorative traits of climbing evergreen plants like the common ivy, were the highest in substrate B3. The highest root and shoot dry matter and leaf N, K, and Zn contents were obtained from the plants grown in substrate B3. The highest leaf carotenoid and the longest roots were related to substrate B5. B1 was the most successful substrate in increasing leaf Fe. So, substrate B3 is recommended as the best substrate for the growth of the common ivy.

Calla lily (Zantedeschia spp.) from the family of Araceae is an herbaceous perennial flowering plant commercially usedasa cut flower andfor green spaces. No research has studied the effects of different growth media on the calla lily. This study mainly aimed to investigate the effects of different growth media on growth parameters and nutritional status of the calla lily. The experimental design was laid as a randomized complete block design with three replications conducted in a semi-mechanized greenhouse (%RH= 70 ± 5, Temp= 24 ± 4 °C) during 2019-2020. The treatments included 13 growth media composed of perlite and cocopeat at ratios of 80:20, 60:60, 40:60, and 20:80, perlite and peat moss at ratios of 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, and 20:80, fine-grained perlite and perlite at ratios of 25:75, 50:50, and 75:25, fine-grained perlite alone, and perlite alone. The changes in the ratio of perlite to cocopeat from 80:20 to 20:80 increased shoot weight compared to perlite lonely. The changes from 80:20 to 40:60 of perlite to cocopeat raised leaf length, width, and number. Increasing cocopeat or peat moss to perlite led to an increase in rhizome diameter. However, this increase was lower in higher proportions of them. The ratios of 80:20, 60:40, and 40:60 of perlite to peat moss increased leaf nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium contents. The use of different growth media (perlite, cocopeat, and peat moss) were suitable for this plant due to the better supply of the essential elements.

Vase life of cut flowers of many gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) cultivars is typically short because of stem bending; therefore, stem bending that occurs during the early vase life period is a major problem in gerbera. Foliar application of amino acids and inorganic fertilizers is an effective practice to improve plant yield in agriculture and horticulture. This experiment was carried out to improve vase life of gerbera cut flowers through changes in relative fresh weight (RFW), anthocyanin content, electrolyte leakage (EL) and stem bending. The plants were treated by foliar application of 4 and 8 g L-1 L-glutamic acid (GA), 5 and 10 g L-1 potassium (K) and nitrogen (N). The results showed the greatest RFW was observed in flowers sprayed with 4 g L-1 GA, 5 g L-1 N and 5 g L-1 K to be 86.7%. The 20% reduction of EL was observed in flowers treated with co-application of 8 g L-1 GA, 10 g L-1 N and 5 g L-1 K as compared to control. The main enhancement of anthocyanin concentration was corresponded to GA application. Stem bending ranged from 63.1° in gerbera flowers supplied with non-GA, 5 g L-1 N and 5 g L-1 K to 73.9° in control plants. To sum up, 8 g L-1 GA in combination with 5 g L-1 N and 5 g L-1 K was chosen as an optimum treatment to improve vase life and decreased stem bending of gerbera cut flowers.

A factorial pot experiment in the form of a completely random basic design with three replications was conducted to investigate the effect of water deficit on the morphological and physiological characteristics of Catharanthus roseus (L.) under ascorbic acid foliar spraying in 2019. The test factors include: Drought stress (I) at 4 levels based on field capacity (FC): 1) no stress (I1) irrigation at 100% FC, 2) mild stress (I2) irrigation at 75% FC; 3) medium stress (I3) of irrigation at 50% FC; and 4) severe stress (I4) of irrigation at 25% FC; Foliar application of ascorbic acid was at 4 levels: 0, 25, 50, 100 mM. The obtained results showed that the concentration of chlorophyll a and carotenoids, leaf soluble sugar, proline amount and catalase enzyme activity increased with increasing severity of water deficit, but the morphological characteristics of root and shoot dry weight decreased. The application of ascorbic acid led to the improvement of the measured traits, and the results of the application of ascorbic acid were significantly superior to its non-use, and the level of 50 mM had a greater effect on most of the traits than other levels. According to the obtained results, it is recommended to use ascorbic acid to improve the growth of plants such as Catharanthus roseus under drought stress.Key words: Ascorbic acid, Catalase, Drought stress. Dry weight, Ornamental and medicinal plants.