scholarly journals Determining the Optimum Night Length for Flower Development in a Modern Poinsettia Cultivar

HortScience ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-276
Author(s):  
Michael Alden ◽  
James E. Faust

The effect of night length (NL) on the flower development of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch) ‘Prestige Red’ was evaluated. Flower initiation occurred by subjecting plants to a 14-hour NL for 10 or 17 days, termed short-day (SD) treatments, and then transferring the plants to each of four NL treatments (11, 12, 13, or 14 hours) to observe the effects of NL on flower development. The plants grown continuously with the 14-h NL treatment were the control group. The timing of first color, visible bud, and anthesis were recorded during flower development, and bract and leaf data were collected at anthesis. Leaf number was unaffected by the SD or NL treatments, suggesting that flower initiation occurred during the 10-day SD treatment before the start of NL treatments; thus, the NL treatments only affected flower development. The timing of first color and visible bud were significantly delayed with the 10-day SD × 11-hour NL treatment relative to the 14-hour NL control; however, first color and visible bud were not delayed with the 17-day SD × 11-hour NL treatment. The 11-hour NL treatment resulted in fewer plants reaching anthesis, and these plants had fewer stem bracts and less bract color development compared with the 12-hour, 13-hour, and 14-hour NL treatments. Therefore, an 11-hour NL is suboptimal for flower development; nonetheless, significant development did occur. The 12-hour NL resulted in less color development than the 13-hour and 14-hour NL treatments in the lowest stem bract positions, but the plants had a commercially acceptable appearance. These results demonstrate that minimal differences in flower development occur with NL ≥12 hours, but that optimal development required NL ≥13 hours.

2003 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik S. Runkle ◽  
Royal D. Heins

Plastics that selectively reduce the transmission of far-red light (FR, 700 to 800 nm) reduce extension growth of many floricultural crops. However, FR-deficient (FRd) environments delay flowering in some long-day plants (LDPs), including `Crystal Bowl Yellow' pansy (Viola ×wittrockiana Gams). Our objective was to determine if FR light could be added to an otherwise FRd environment to facilitate flowering with minimal extension growth. In one experiment, plants were grown under a 16-hour FRd photoperiod, and FR-rich light was added during portions of the day or night. For comparison, plants were also grown with a 9-hour photoperiod [short-day (SD) control] or under a neutral (N) filter with a 16-hour photoperiod (long day control). Flowering was promoted most (i.e., percent of plants that flowered increased and time to flower decreased) when FR-rich light was added during the entire 16-hour photoperiod, during the last 4 hours of the photoperiod, or during the first or second 4 hours after the end of the photoperiod. In a separate experiment, pansy was grown under an FRd or N filter with a 9-hour photoperiod plus 0, 0.5, 1, 2, or 4 hours of night interruption (NI) lighting that delivered a red (R, 600 to 700 nm) to FR ratio of 0.56 (low), 1.28 (moderate), or 7.29 (high). Under the N filter, the minimum NI duration that increased percent flowering was 2 hours with a moderate or low R:FR and 4 hours with a high R:FR. Under the FRd filter, 2 or 4 hours of NI lighting with a moderate or low R:FR, respectively, was required to increase percent flowering, but a 4-hour NI with a high R:FR failed to promote flowering. Pansy appears to be day-neutral with respect to flower initiation and a quantitative LDP with respect to flower development. The promotion of reproductive development was related linearly to the promotion of extension growth. Therefore, it appears that in LDPs such as pansy, light duration and quality concomitantly promote extension growth and flowering, and cannot readily be separated with lighting strategies.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 509a-509
Author(s):  
C.E. Wieland ◽  
J.E. Barrett ◽  
D.G. Clark ◽  
G. J. Wilfret

Four poinsettia cultivars were grown in glass greenhouses in Gainesville, Fla., in the Fall 1997 to evaluate differences in floral initiation and subsequent development. Three means of regulating photoperiod were 1) natural days 2) long-day lighting to 6 Oct. and then natural days (lights out) 3) long-day lighting to 6 Oct., and then short-day conditions by black cloth for 15 h (black cloth). At 2-day intervals, sample meristems were collected and examined for initiation of reproductive development. Average minimum and maximum temperatures during the first two weeks of October were 22 and 29 °C, respectively, with an average temperature of 25.3 °C. The overall average temperature was 23.2 °C from planting to anthesis. Differences in anthesis dates among cultivars were primarily due to time to initiation vs. rate of development. Under natural days, `Lilo' initiated first on 8 Oct. and `Freedom', `Peterstar', and `Success', followed by 6, 8, and 18 days, respectively. Lights out resulted in `Lilo' initiating 17 Oct., followed by `Freedom', `Peterstar', and `Success' initiating 7, 12, and 15 days later, respectively. Differences between cultivars in time of initiation was reduced under black cloth, where `Lilo' initiated 14 Oct., followed by `Freedom' 2 days later, and `Peterstar' and `Success' 7 days afterward. Initiation was positively correlated to visible bud and anthesis. First color was positively correlated to initiation and visible bud, with the exception of `Lilo'. Growth room studies conducted using various high temperatures and photoperiods indicated similar trends.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malleshaiah SharathKumar ◽  
Ep Heuvelink ◽  
Leo F. M. Marcelis ◽  
Wim van Ieperen

Shorter photoperiod and lower daily light integral (DLI) limit the winter greenhouse production. Extending the photoperiod by supplemental light increases biomass production but inhibits flowering in short-day plants such as Chrysanthemum morifolium. Previously, we reported that flowering in growth-chamber grown chrysanthemum with red (R) and blue (B) LED-light could also be induced in long photoperiods by applying only blue light during the last 4h of 15h long-days. This study investigates the possibility to induce flowering by extending short-days in greenhouses with 4h of blue light. Furthermore, flower induction after 4h of red light extension was tested after short-days RB-LED light in a growth-chamber and after natural solar light in a greenhouse. Plants were grown at 11h of sole source RB light (60:40) in a growth-chamber or solar light in the greenhouse (short-days). Additionally, plants were grown under long-days, which either consisted of short-days as described above extended with 4h of B or R light to long-days or of 15h continuous RB light or natural solar light. Flower initiation and normal capitulum development occurred in the blue-extended long-days in the growth-chamber after 11h of sole source RB, similarly as in short-days. However, when the blue extension was applied after 11h of full-spectrum solar light in a greenhouse, no flower initiation occurred. With red-extended long-days after 11h RB (growth-chamber) flower initiation occurred, but capitulum development was hindered. No flower initiation occurred in red-extended long-days in the greenhouse. These results indicate that multiple components of the daylight spectrum influence different phases in photoperiodic flowering in chrysanthemum in a time-dependent manner. This research shows that smart use of LED-light can open avenues for a more efficient year-round cultivation of chrysanthemum by circumventing the short-day requirement for flowering when applied in emerging vertical farm or plant factories that operate without natural solar light. In current year-round greenhouses’ production, however, extension of the natural solar light during the first 11 h of the photoperiod with either red or blue sole LED light, did inhibit flowering.


1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (29) ◽  
pp. 489 ◽  
Author(s):  
DF Cameron

The flowering of seven selections of Townsville lucerne (Stylosanthes humilis HBK) representing a range of maturity types has been studied in the Canberra phytotron. Daylength is the main factor controlling flowering in these selections, all of which showed a strong short day response. At normal temperatures the maximum daylengths at which all plants flowered (the critical daylengths) were 13 hours for the early, 12 hours for the midseason and late-midseason, and 11 1/2 hours for the late selections. However, the midseason selections did flower in a 12 1/2-hour daylength if the light intensity of the supplementary illumination was 20 or 5 ft.c. instead of the normal 50 ft.c. The response of the other selections was not altered at the lower light intensities. Both high night temperature and low day temperature delayed or inhibited flower initiation in the early and midseason selections and these effects were greater at a critical daylength.


2004 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Paynter ◽  
P. E. Juskiw ◽  
J. H. Helm

To gain an understanding of the adaptation of Australian and Canadian barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars to the environments of western Canada and Western Australia, phyllochron and number of leaves on the mainstem in eight cultivars of two-row, spring barley were examined when sown at two dates in two locations. The locations were a short-day environment at Northam, Western Australia, Australia in 1997 and a long-day environment at Lacombe, Alberta, Canada in 1998. At each location highly significant relationships between leaf number on the mainstem and thermal time were found (r2 > 0.94). Using linear estimates, the phyllochron of barley under short days was longer than under long days and was correlated to time to awn emergence. Later sowing shortened phyllochron under short days, but generally not under long days. Error messages from the linear regression analysis suggested that residuals were not random for all cultivars. Bilinear models were fitted to those datasets. Bilineal responses were observed under both short and long days, being independent of cultivar, date of seeding, final leaf number, phenological development pattern and time to awn emergence. The occurrence of a bilinear response was also independent of any ontogenetic events. The change in phyllochron occurred between leaves 4–7 at Northam and between leaves 6–9 at Lacombe. The leaf number at which the phyllochron change occurred was positively related to final leaf number and time to awn emergence. The phyllochron of early forming leaves was positively related to time to awn emergence and shorter than later forming leaves. Leaf emergence patterns in spring barley under both long-day and short-day conditions may therefore be linear or bilinear. Key words: barley (spring), Hordeum vulgare L., phyllochron, leaf emergence, daylength


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramon Zulueta-Rodriguez ◽  
Miguel Victor Cordoba-Matson ◽  
Luis Guillermo Hernandez-Montiel ◽  
Bernardo Murillo-Amador ◽  
Edgar Rueda-Puente ◽  
...  

Pseudomonas putidais plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that have the capacity to improve growth in plants. The purpose of this study was to determine growth and anthocyanin pigmentation of the bracts in two poinsettiaEuphorbia pulcherrimacultivars (Prestige and Sonora Marble) using three strains ofP. putida, as well as a mixture of the three (MIX). Comparison with the control group indicated for the most part that Prestige grew better than the Sonora Marble cultivars with the PGPR strains. Prestige with the MIX strain grew better compared to control for the number of cyathia (83 versus 70.4), volume of roots (45 versus 35 cm3), number of leaves (78 versus 58), and area of leaf (1,788 versus 1,331 cm2), except for the number of flowers (8.8 versus 11.6). To the naked eye, coloration of plants appeared identical in color compared to the control group. For all plants withP. putidastrains, there was less anthocyanin pigment, but biomass was always greater with PGPR strains. Nevertheless, to the naked eye, the coloration of the plants appeared identical in color compared to the control group. This is the first study reporting the positive effects ofP. putidarhizobacteria treatments on growth of poinsettia cultivars.


2001 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik S. Runkle ◽  
Royal D. Heins

For many long-day plants (LDP), adding far red light (FR, 700 to 800 nm) to red light (R, 600 to 700 nm) to extend the day or interrupt the night promotes extension growth and flowering. Blue light (B, 400 to 500 nm) independently inhibits extension growth, but its effect on flowering is not well described. Here, we determined how R-, FR-, or B-deficient (Rd, FRd, or Bd, respectively) photoperiods influenced stem extension and flowering in five LDP species: Campanula carpatica Jacq., Coreopsi ×grandiflora Hogg ex Sweet, Lobelia ×speciosa Sweet, Pisum sativum L., and Viola ×wittrockiana Gams. Plants were exposed to Rd, FRd, Bd, or normal (control) 16-hour photoperiods, each of which had a similar photosynthetic (400 to 700 nm) photon flux. Compared with that of the control, the Rd environment promoted extension growth in C. carpatica (by 65%), C. ×grandiflora (by 26%), P. sativum (by 23%), and V. ×wittrockiana (by 31%). The FRd environment suppressed extension growth in C. ×grandiflora (by 21%), P. sativum (by 17%), and V. ×wittrockiana (by 14%). Independent of the R: FR ratio, the Bd environment promoted stem extension (by 10% to 100%) in all species, but there was little or no effect on flowering percentage and time to flower. Extension growth was generally linearly related to the incident wide band (100 nm) R: FR ratio or estimated phytochrome photoequilibrium except when B light was specifically reduced. A high R: FR ratio (i.e., under the FRd filter) delayed flower initiation (but not development) in C. carpatica and C.×grandiflora and inhibited flower development (but not initiation) in V.×wittrockiana. Therefore, B light and the R: FR ratio independently regulate extension growth by varying magnitudes in LDP, and in some species, an FRd environment can suppress flower initiation or development.


HortScience ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan M. Armitage

Hamelia patens Jacq. (Texas firebush) is a long-day plant for flower initiation and flower development; however, flower development is more sensitive to photoperiod than is flower initiation. The critical photoperiod for flower development at 25C is between 12 and 16 hours. Flowering was delayed under low light conditions, and plant dry weight was heavier and flowering time was earlier for plants grown at a constant 25 or 30C than at 20C. A greenhouse environment with a 16-hour photoperiod and moderately high temperature (25C) would be appropriate for production of H. patens.


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