scholarly journals Effect of Photosynthetic Photon Flux and Temperature on Floral Evocation and Development in the Vernalization-sensitive Ornamental Perennial Salvia ×superba `Blaukönigin'

2006 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grete Waaseth ◽  
Roar Moe ◽  
Royal D. Heins ◽  
Svein O. Grimstad

Varying photothermal ratios (PTR) were supplied to Salvia ×superba Stapf `Blaukönigin' during pre-inductive vegetative development with the exception of a short germination period under uniform conditions. In addition, both unvernalized plants and plants receiving a saturating vernalization treatment of 6 weeks at 5 °C were given two photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) levels (50 or 200 μmol·m-2·s-1) during subsequent inductive 16-hour long days. There were no effects of PTR treatments during vegetative development on subsequent flowering. However, the higher PPF level during inductive long days significantly accelerated floral evocation in unvernalized plants, lowering the leaf number at flowering. The effect was practically negligent after the vernalization requirement was saturated. In a second experiment, varying periods (4, 7, 10, and 14 days or until anthesis) at a PPF of 200 μmol·m-2·s-1 during 20-hour days were given at the beginning of a long-day treatment, either with or without preceding vernalization treatment. Flowering percentage increased considerably as the period at 200 μmol·m-2·s-1 was extended compared with plants grown at a lower PPF of 50 μmol·m-2·s-1. However, the leaf number on flowering plants was not affected, except in unvernalized plants receiving the highest PPF continuously until anthesis, where leaf number was reduced by almost 50%. We propose that the PPF-dependent flowering is facilitated either by the rate of ongoing assimilation or rapid mobilization of stored carbohydrates at the time of evocation. Abortion of floral primordia under the lower PPF (50 μmol·m-2·s-1) irrespective of vernalization treatment indicates that the assimilate requirement for flower bud development is independent of the mechanism for floral evocation.

HortScience ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Blanchard ◽  
Erik S. Runkle

A technology for long-day (LD) lighting was evaluated for commercial production of ornamentals using a stationary high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamp with an oscillating aluminum parabolic reflector (rotating HPS lamp). We performed an experiment with four LD species (Campanula carpatica Jacq., Coreopsis grandiflora Hogg ex Sweet, Petunia ×hybrida Vilm.-Andr., and Rudbeckia hirta L.) to compare the efficacy of a rotating HPS lamp in promoting flowering with night-interruption (NI) lighting using incandescent (INC) lamps. Seedlings were grown under natural short-day (SD) photoperiods (12 h or less) and NI treatments were delivered from a 600-W rotating HPS lamp mounted at one gable end of the greenhouse or from INC lamps that were illuminated continuously for 4 h or cyclically for 6 min every 30 min for 4 h. Plants were grown at lateral distances of 1, 4, 7, 10, or 13 m from the rotating HPS lamp, which provided a maximum photosynthetic photon flux of 25.4 μmol·m−2·s−1 (at 1 m) to 0.3 μmol·m−2·s−1 (at 13 m). Control plants were grown under an uninterrupted 15-h skotoperiod. Within 16 weeks, 80% or greater of the plants within each species that received NI lighting had a macroscopic visible flower bud or inflorescence, whereas all species but Petunia ×hybrida remained vegetative under the SD. Flowering of all species grown at 13 m from the rotating HPS lamp was delayed by 14 to 31 d compared with those under continuous INC. The weekly operational costs to provide NI lighting to a 139-m2 greenhouse with one 600-W rotating HPS lamp or a standard cyclic INC lamp installation was estimated to be 80% to 83% lower compared with INC lighting for the entire 4-h NI. These results indicate that a rotating HPS lamp can be used to efficiently deliver LD lighting, but flowering time was delayed and flower number reduced in some species when the maximum NI light intensity was less than 2.4 μmol·m−2·s−1.


HortScience ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1332-1337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wook Oh ◽  
Erik S. Runkle ◽  
Ryan M. Warner

Increasing the photosynthetic daily light integral (DLI) during the seedling stage promotes seedling growth and flowering in many bedding plants. Our objective was to determine the impact of increased DLI for different periods during the seedling stage on young plant quality and subsequent growth and development. Seeds of petunia (Petunia ×hybrida Vilm.-Andr. ‘Madness Red’) and pansy (Viola ×wittrockiana Gams. ‘Delta Premium Yellow’) were sown into 288-cell plug trays and placed under a 16-h photoperiod provided by sunlight plus 90 μmol·m−2·s−1 [supplemental lighting (SL)] or 3 μmol·m−2·s−1 [photoperiodic lighting (PL)] from high-pressure sodium lamps when the ambient greenhouse photosynthetic photon flux was less than 400 μmol·m−2·s−1 from 0600 to 2200 hr. Plants were grown at 20 °C under PL or SL for the entire seedling stage or were exposed to SL for one-third or two-thirds of the seedling stage. Seedlings were then transplanted into 10-cm pots and grown until flowering with SL at 20 °C. Shoot dry mass of transplants increased linearly with increasing DLI provided to seedlings in petunia (y = −4.75 + 1.86x, R2 = 0.76) and pansy (y = −3.94 + 3.47x, R2 = 0.78) in which y = dry mass (g) and x = DLI (mol·m−2·d−1). SL during the last two-thirds or the entire plug stage increased shoot dry mass and the number of leaves in both species compared with SL during the earlier stage or PL. SL during the last two-thirds or the entire plug stage accelerated flowering, but plants had a lower shoot dry mass and flower bud number at first flowering compared with that in SL during the first third or two-thirds or that in PL. Therefore, SL generally had greater effects on transplant quality and subsequent flowering when provided later in the plug stage than if provided earlier in production.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 988-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiaki Kitaya ◽  
Genhua Niu ◽  
Toyoki Kozai ◽  
Maki Ohashi

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Summer-green) plug transplants were grown for 3 weeks under 16 combinations of four levels (100, 150, 200, and 300 μmol·m-2·s-1) of photosynthetic photon flux (PPF), two photoperiods (16 and 24 h), and two levels of CO2 (400 and 800 μmol·mol-1) in growth chambers maintained at an air temperature of 20 ±2 °C. As PPF increased, dry mass (DM), percent DM, and leaf number increased, while ratio of shoot to root dry mass (S/R), ratio of leaf length to leaf width (LL/LW), specific leaf area, and hypocotyl length decreased. At the same PPF, DM was increased by 25% to 100% and 10% to 100% with extended photoperiod and elevated CO2 concentration, respectively. Dry mass, percent DM, and leaf number increased linearly with daily light integral (DLI, the product of PPF and photoperiod), while S/R, specific leaf area, LL/LW and hypocotyl length decreased as DLI increased under each CO2 concentration. Hypocotyl length was influenced by PPF and photoperiod, but not by CO2 concentration. Leaf morphology, which can be reflected by LL/LW, was substantially influenced by PPF at 100 to 200 μmol·m-2·s-1, but not at 200 to 300 μmol·m-2·s-1. At the same DLI, the longer photoperiod promoted growth under the low CO2 concentration, but not under the high CO2 concentration. Longer photoperiod and/or higher CO2 concentration compensated for a low PPF.


1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 121 ◽  
Author(s):  
RW King ◽  
LT Evans

Inflorescence initiation in Lolium temulentum is induced by a single long day with a photoperiod extension of 16 h under low photon flux density (12 μmol PAR m-2 s-1) from incandescent lamps. Under these conditions the content of sucrose, the predominant free sugar in the shoot apex, fluctuates diurnally in the same way as in short day apices. There was no evidence of a greater apical sucrose content at any time during the long day or in the following period of high irradiance when floral evocation occurs. Thereafter, however, the diurnal fluctuation in apical sucrose content became more pronounced. Increasing the sugar supply to the apex by raising the photon flux density during the daily light period did not lead to flowering of non-induced plants; nor did the high contents of apical sugars reached in apices cultured in vitro on 5% sucrose medium. By contrast, when apices were excised after receipt of the floral stimulus from long day leaves, increase in the sugar content enhanced inflorescence development in vitro, this response being most pronounced after the inflorescences were initiated. Thus, floral evocation in L. temulentum does not require an increase in the content of sucrose at the apex although inflorescence development is highly responsive to it. When photoperiodic extensions with incandescent or fluorescent lamps were compared for their effects on apical sugars and flowering response, there was no interaction between light quality and photon flux density. Thus the shoot apex response to the low irradiance, photoperiodic time-measurement processes of leaves is distinct from the apical response to sugar supply. In Lolium temulentum floral evocation is controlled by the photoperiodic processes, the response to which is amplified by high sugar supplies but not replaced as it is in Sinapis alba.


1986 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. HICKLENTON

Flowering of Gypsophila paniculata L. ’Bristol Fairy’ was promoted by supplemental lighting during the period September to February (fall) and January to June (spring) in greenhouses at latitude 45°N. Plants which received 42 or 63 d of night-time supplemental photosynthetic photon flux (PPF: 2000–0700 h; 93 μmol s−1 m−2 from high pressure sodium lamps) prior to transplanting flowered earlier and showed more vigorous vegetative growth than those subjected to only 21 d of supplemental PPF. Flowering did not occur in the fall crop for plants which received only low-level photoperiod extension lighting (8 μmol s−1 m−2, 2000–0700 h). Flowering in this cultivar is closely related to PPF during production as well as to photoperiod. Production strategies for northern greenhouses involving supplemental lighting treatments to plants prior to transplanting are suggested by these results.Key words: Gypsophila paniculata, supplemental lighting, flowering, long-day plant


2001 ◽  
Vol 126 (6) ◽  
pp. 710-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil O. Anderson ◽  
Peter D. Ascher

Commercial garden and greenhouse chrysanthemums [Dendranthema ×grandiflora (Ramat.) Kitam. (syn. Chrysanthemum xmorifolium Ramat.)] are facultative short-day plants for flower bud initiation, obligate short-day plants for flower bud development, and are categorized into short-day response groups. Flower initiation can be delayed by high night temperatures. Recent research has identified true day-neutral genotypes. The purpose of this investigation was to test environments for selecting genotypes that are both day-neutral and heat-delay insensitive. One greenhouse and 18 garden genotypes were selected. A series of environments were used to select for day-neutral genotypes and then differentiate between these genotypes for heat delay insensitivity: short days, long days/red light, long days/far red light and high temperatures, and natural day lengths under field conditions. Day-neutral selections from these environments were then grown in a fifth environment of long days/continuous far red and red light with high temperature. Data were collected on the number of days to first and third flower, long day leaf number, stem length, number of strap-shaped leaves subtending the terminal flower, internode lengths, number of nodes with axillary branching, and flower bud development of the first to the sixth flowers. Genotypes required 3 to 8 weeks for complete flower bud initiation/development. Flowering responses in the first four environments were highly significant for both the first and third flowers. Genotypes ranged from obligate short-day to day-neutral for the first six flowers. Three day-neutral genotypes were selected that differed significantly for all traits in the fifth environment; flower bud development with the first six flowers occurred with only one genotype, 83-267-3. Broad sense heritability estimates ranged from h2 = 0.75 for number of nodes with axillary branching, h2 = 0.79 for long day leaf number and number of strap-shaped leaves, to h2 = 0.91 for stem length. An ideotype for day-neutral and heat-delay-insensitive garden chrysanthemums was developed for use in breeding programs.


1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Strefeler ◽  
Neil O. Anderson ◽  
Peter D. Ascher

Our objective was to determine whether repeated applications of 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (ethephon) + gibberellic acid (GA3) to stock chrysanthemum plants that are day-neutral for flower bud initiation would increase the number of quality cuttings. Across five cultivars, there were no significant differences between controls and plants receiving 250 ppm ethephon in the total number of cuttings per plant. The percentage of cuttings with crown buds was greater for cuttings from controls than for ethephon-treated plants. Applying 500 ppm ethephon significantly reduced the number of cuttings. We conclude that chrysanthemum clones day-neutral for flower bud initiation and development with low long-day leaf number could be selected to form a 4 to 5 week production group.


1993 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Myers

Three separate blocks of mature, nonirrigated trees of `Redskin' peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] on `Lovell' rootstock, all uniformly dormant-pruned to an open center, were summer pruned 43, 31, and 21 days before harvest (DBH) in 1988, 1989, and 1990, respectively, and compared to unpruned controls in respect to light penetration and fruit characteristics. Summer pruning consisted of watersprout removal (WSR), selectively including all shoots more upright than 45° on scaffolds from the crotch to the top of the tree. WSR increased photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) in the center of the fruiting zone of the canopy to four times the level measured in unpruned trees, but only to an average of 16% of above-canopy PPFD. The greatest effect of WSR on PPFD occurred in the center of the tree, increasing light levels from <10% full sun before WSR to 90% full sun following WSR. WSR resulted in higher PPFD in the center of the tree for the remainder of the season. Fruit ground color and red pigmentation were not affected by WSR. WSR increased the percentage of fruit that exceeded 62 mm in diameter and decreased the percentage of fruit < 55 mm in diameter in 1988 and 1990. In 2 of the 3 years, WSR increased flower count per cm shoot length in the fruiting zone of the canopy.


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