JOURNAL OF ORNAMENTAL PLANTS (JOURNAL OF ORNAMENTAL AND HORTICULTURAL PLANTS)
Year:2018 | Volume:8 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:7

Now days, turf management has encountered with water deficit, mostly due to low precipitation also industrial, agricultural and household demand and consumption. So, the objective of this project was to identify drought tolerance of warm and cool season turfgrass cultivars to different levels of regulateddeficit irrigation. The field experiment was set out in a split-plot based on completely randomized experimental design with three replications at the experimental farm of the Department of Horticultural Science‚ Agricultural College‚ Ferdowsi University of Mashhad‚ Mashhad‚ Iran. Water treatments (40‚ 70‚ 100 percentages of regulated deficit irrigation) (RDI) were considered as main plot and turf grass types as subplots. Irrigation value was according to daily reference of evapotranspiration (ETO). In all measured traits, Bowie and Cody genotypes of buffalograss showed better response as compare to fescue genotype. There was significant difference in turf quality traits of turfgrass (such as color, texture and quality after clipping) dealt with different level of drought stress. Cody has shown the lowest quality for color index. Whereas, the finer leaves have recorded in Cody and Bowie, but not significantly to each other. However tall fescue represented the rough leaves among others. Boffalograss cultivars preserved more relative water content (RWC) in contrast to that of fescue. Results suggested that buffalograss cultivars likely can cope with severe drought stress so as to maintain its morphological quality and also is able to justify its physiological traits under severe water stress. The research results indicated that buffalograss cultivars need lower levels of irrigation compare to tall fescue.

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of silicon ( Si), ethanol (Et), ascorbic acid (AA), and citric acid (CA) on the vase life of Narcissus tazettaL. cv. ‘Shahla’ cut flowers. For this purpose, an experiment based on a completely randomized design was conducted with Si (5, 10 and 20 mM), Et (2 and 4%), AA (100, 200 and 300 mg L-1), CA (100, 200 and 300 mg L-1) and control (distilled water) with three replications and three samples (individual flowers) for each replicate. The results showed that the addition of all preservatives to vase solutions significantly increased relative fresh weight, water uptake, and vase life of cut flowers in comparison to control. Relative fresh weight of the cut flowers treated with Si (5 mM) was higher than that of other treatments during all days of experiment and this treatment increased relative fresh weight and total water uptake by 16 and 27% compared to control (day 7 of the experiment), respectively. Silicon (5 mM) also increased fresh weight of control flower (excluding stem) from 0.185 to 0.259 g (40% increases). The highest dry weight of flower (0.057 g) was obtained from 300 mg L-1AA. It was 32% higher than that of control flower. The application of Si (5 mM) extended the vase life of cut flowers by 2.66 days in comparison to control. According to the results of this experiment, Si, Et, AA and CA are safe and cheap compounds that are suitable for extending the vase life ofN. tazetta cut flowers.

Verticillium dahliaeKleb. is a soilborne pathogen that causes vascular wilt in chrysanthemum plant (Dendranthema grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitam).The objective of the present research was to study the levels of some organic solutes, such as total protein, total soluble sugars, starch and proline, relative water content, RNA level, malondialdehyde and H2O2 contents, in the leaves of chrysanthemum inoculated withV. dahliae. Changes in these parameters were measured 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 days after inoculation by spectrophotometric analysis. No changes were detected in relative water content, RNA, and protein levels and a slight decrease was observed in chlorophyll level in infected leaf tissue before the appearance of visible wilt.The decrease in relative water content coincided with a sharp buildup of proline and total soluble sugars in leaves. The leaf starch and protein levels gradually declined in both healthy and infected plants during the time course of the experiment. However, the decrease was more pronounced in infected plants since the third week after inoculation. A high negative correlation was observed between total soluble sugars and starch contents in leaves of diseased plants (r=0.764, P<0.001). Changes in malondialdehyde and H2O2 concentration occurred in infected plants between 30-40 days after inoculation, while they did not change in the leaves of control plants.These data suggest the posssible role of senescence during the development ofVerticillium wilt syndrome in chrysanthemum.

Frost is the coating or deposit of ice that may form in cold conditions, usually overnight. If the temperature drops far enough for the plant cells to freeze, non-hardy plants will die. Therefore, a research was laid out to study the influence of an anti-frost solution on growth, flower quality and biochemical parameters of ornamental plants. The anti-frost solution was applied as foliar sprays in different concentrations of T0: 0 (mg L-1) (only water) as control, T1: 250 (mg L-1), T2: 500 (mg L-1), T3: 1000 (mg L-1), T4: 1500 (mg L-1), T5: 2000 (mg L-1) ‘ferti-frost’, on bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra), canna (Canna indica) and petunia (Petunia axillaris). Results showed that flowering percentage and flowering duration in the treated plants was higher than those in control.The highest flowering percentage and flowering duration were observed in T5 (81.22% and 13.86 days, respectively). By as anti-frost solution rate was increased, damaging percentage was decreased. The lowest damaging percentage of 69.77% was associated with T5. Total chlorophyll was enhanced with the rate of anti-frost solution. The highest total chlorophyll content belonged to T5 (50.80 mg g-1). The comparison of the effect of different treatments on proline content revealed that control had highest proline content of 0.56 mM g-1. As anti-frost rate was increased, proline content was decreased so that it was minimized in T5 (0.08 mM g-1). Electrical conductivity was affected by different treatments in all flowers. The highest electrical conductivity was recorded for control (9.0 mS g-1 cm-1) and the lowest was related to T5 (2.26 mS g-1 cm-1). All treatments differed significantly at the 0.1% level.

To evaluate the effectiveness of various organic or inorganic fertilizers on the growth and physiology ofChrysanthemum morifolium (an important ornamental plant), the present research was conducted in a completely randomized design. Seedlings were treated with vermicompost (0 and 40% w/w of soil), nano-chelated zinc (nano-Zn) (0 and 0.1% (w/v)) or ZnSO4 (0 and 0.2% (w/v)). Nano-Zn or ZnSO4 were sprayed three times at two-week intervals. In comparison to the control, the applied fertilizers significantly promoted growth rates and biomass accumulations as indicated by the significantly higher leaf area as well as leaf fresh and dry mass in the treated plants by approximately 41%, 39%, and 28%, respectively. The simultaneous applications of nano-Zn and vermicompost the most effective supplementation to improve plant growth rate. The combined applications of mineral and biological fertilizers led to significant increases in the contents of photosynthetic pigments by about 53%. Except for individual application of ZnSO4, the other applied treatments, especially the combined ones, resulted in significant increases in the contents of leaf proline (by, on average, 51%) as compared to control. Similarly, the simultaneous applications of supplements increased the root proline by 82%. The highest amounts of leaf soluble phenols were found in nano Zn-V group (3.3 folds higher than control). However, in root tissues, the vermicompost treatment was the only source of significant increases (by approximately 49%). In conclusions, the simultaneous soil supplementations with the biological fertilizers and foliar applications of nano-fertilizers may be regarded as a suitable eco-friendly way to improve plant metabolism and growth rates.

Senescence is an integral part of the normal developmental cycle of plants and can be traced in cell, tissue and organ level. This work was focused on the efficiency of post-harvest treatment with the free polyamine spermine (Spm) to extend the vase life of cut rose flowers as an antisenescence compound. Spm treatment was applied at the rates of 0, 1, 2 and 4 mM. Some morphological, biochemical and physiological characteristics of tested cut roses (Rosa hybrida cv. ‘Dolce Vita’) such as flower diameter, water uptake, relative fresh weight, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde content, guiacole peroxidase activity, hydrogen peroxide content and vase life were evaluated. The effects of a pulsing application of the polyamine on the mentioned traits were significant, and treatment with Spm effectively delayed the senescence of roses, especially when applied at 4 mM concentration. Polyamine treatment resulted in a notable decrease in petal electrolyte leakage due to its cationic and anti-peroxidative characters. In addition to the anti-ethylene property, the cationic character of polyamines may play an important role in determining the vase life of cut flowers.

Recent decades have witnessed the growing use of non-native plants in Iran while their use is very challenging and high-cost for the country. This raised a new approach in recent decades towards the use of native plants.Native species are precious because they possess the main ecological factors and they are already compatible with the region. Accordingly, this research was conducted to evaluate the species of woody plants that can be used in green space planning. The study focused on 55 tree species from 20 plant families in the research area. After evaluating the parameters that govern the aesthetic beauty of the studied plants in autumn, 27 tree species of Hyrcanian area were placed in the group of beautiful plants in terms of aesthetic criteria in autumn, 14 species were placed in the group of very beautiful trees, and 14 species were placed in the group of trees with average beauty. The final conclusion was that some species of Hyrcanian native trees can be used to beautify the urban landscape, especially in autumn, so it is recommended to do compatibility studies on the use of these species in urban landscape, especially in parks.