Plant Maturity Affects Flowering Ability and Flower Quality in Phalaenopsis, Focusing on Their Relationship to Carbon-to-nitrogen Ratio

In the commercial production of phalaenopsis orchids, the cultivation time after deflasking is used to describe the plant age and maturity. Carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio is often used as an indicator of plant growth and flowering potential. High C/N ratios are considered to promote reproductive growth, and low C/N ratios are associated with the early vegetative growth or even inhibiting flowering. This study investigated how plant age and maturity affected flowering ability and flower quality of phalaenopsis and their relationship to C/N ratio. The plant materials of various ages were the purple, small-flowered Phalaenopsis Sogo Lotte ‘F2510’ and white, large-flowered P. Sogo Yukidian ‘V3’, which were 2 to 7 months and 10 to 20 months after deflasking, respectively. Plants were placed under 25/20 °C for 4 months to force flowering and investigate the flowering-related parameters. The leaf C/N ratio of both varieties increased in general with the increase of plant age. The spiking (flower-stalk emergence) rate of P. Sogo Lotte ‘F2510’ 2 months after deflasking was only 42%, which indicates that these plants were not completely out of their juvenile phase, whereas that of those 3 to 7 months after deflasking was 100%, indicating that plants had acquired full flowering ability. No linear correlation was found between the C/N ratio and days to spiking, to first visible bud, to first flower open, and to 90% flower opening in the white, large-flowered P. Sogo Yukidian ‘V3’. However, there was a positive correlation between the C/N ratio and inflorescence length, flower-stalk diameter, first flower diameter, and flower count. Thus, the C/N ratio is feasible to be used as an indicator for assessing the flowering quality in phalaenopsis.

SCS313 Serrano, a big trefoil selected for flowering ability and seed production

SCS313 Serrano is a tetraploid cultivar of Lotus uliginosus developed by the Research and Rural Extension Company of Santa Catarina, Brazil, to improve flowering ability and seed production in low-latitude regions. SCS313 Serrano was developed from the selection of individual plants of the cultivar Grasslands Maku. Seeds from the initial breeding population was bulked and used to establish a field trial with spaced plants. The plants were selected and classified as late or early, regarding the beginning of flowering, through visual evaluations based on the time for the beginning of flowering. Selected plants were transplanted to crossing blocks and seed harvested on individual plants; a progeny test was conducted, with four replications, through the establishment of approximately 100 genotypes in a field. This process was repeated for three consecutive cycles of recurrent selection. Considering the mean time for the beginning of flowering and vigor performance, the best five genotypes were selected as parental lines for the synthetic cultivar SCS313 Serrano. A morphological difference between SCS313 Serrano and Grasslands Maku is that SCS313 Serrano has absence of hairs in stems whereas Grasslands Maku has a medium stem hair density. In addition, SCS313 Serrano exhibits profuse flowering ability while Grasslands Maku exhibits very sparse seedhead formation. SCS313 Serrano exhibited good persistence under wet conditions and similar forage yields compared to other lotus commercial cultivars. Thus, SCS313 Serrano is recommended to be used as pasture in mixtures with grass in livestock systems, mainly on wet soils.

Morphological and Flowering Characteristics of Shallot (Allium cepa Var. Aggregatum) in Response to Gibberellic Acid and Vernalization

Shallot plants have variations in morphological and flowering characters. Flowering ability can be induced by the treatment of gibberellic acid (GA3) and exposing to cold temperature (vernalization). The objectives of the research were to determine the effect of GA3 and vernalization on the morphological and flowering characters of 5 shallot varieties. Field study was organized in a completely randomized block design with three replications to evaluate the responses of 5 varieties of shallots (Bauji, Bima Brebes, Super Philip, Tajuk, and Thailand) to GA3 with the concentrations ranged from zero to 150 mg L-1. Plants were maintained for 65 days until harvesting. The second study was organized in a completely randomized design with 3 replications to evaluate the responses of the five varieties of shallot to vernalization. The vernalization of shallot bulbs were done at 8 o C for 6 weeks. The results indicated that a Super Phillip variety showed the highest response to GA3 observed in the number of leaves and bulbs. At 100 mg L-1 of GA3 increased the plant height up to 45.74 cm. The results from the second study showed that vernalization was effective to increase flowering only on the Ilokos variety. But the other varieties were not sensitive to vernalization. Based on morphological and flowering characters, 5 varieties of shallots were clustered into 3 groups, namely: sensitive flowering included Bentanis, Bma Brebes and Tajuk variety, medium sensitive flowering included Ilokos variety, and non-sensitive flowering included Sumenep variety.

Detection of Flowering Ability on Several Bulbs Shallot Sources by using Hd3a and Endogenous GA3 Analysis

Background: Problems shallot cultivation in tropical regions such as Indonesia, is low productivity. Planting material is one of the causes of low productivity. The planting material used is a bulb that has been used continuously. It is makes planting material susceptible to infectious diseases and viruses. Efforts can be made to reducing the attack of virus infections in the planting material of the bulbs is by using seeds. However, seed production in Indonesia is still low due to the difficulty of flowering and low viability of seeds. The aim of this research was to detect flowering ability from the source of bulbs flowering and non-flowering clumps using Hd3a primers and endogenous GA3, also the effect of age of bulbs to flowering of shallot. Methods: The study used a complete randomized block design. The treatment consisted of two factors with three replications. The first factor was source of bulbs flowering and non-flowering clumps. The second factor was age bulbs which consists of three levels, namely the 60, 80 and 90 days age bulbs. The contents of gibberellins was analyzed using HPLC analysis. Molecular analysis to determine the potential of flowering genes used SSR primer (Hd3a). Result: Hd3a primer can be used as a marker of flowering shallot. Source of bulbs flowering and non-flowering clumps have the same flowering potential gene. The percentage of flowering in flowering clumps was higher than non-flowering clumps and correlates with endogenous gibberellins content. The age of bulbs indicates that older bulbs gave a higher percentage of flowering.

Kemampuan Berbunga, Tingkat Keguguran Bunga, dan Potensi Hasil Beberapa Varietas Kedelai

<p>Field experiments to<br />identify the flowering ability, flowering duration, percentage<br />of flower abortion, and yield potential of several soybean<br />varieties were conducted at two environments at Kendalpayak-<br />Malang Research Station in April-July 2006 (dry season I) and<br />Genteng-Banyuwangi Research Station (dry season II) in July-<br />October 2006. A total of 20 soybean varieties were evaluated<br />by using randomized complete-blocks design with three<br />replications. The plot size was 0.8 m x 4.5 m with plant<br />spacing 40 cm x 15 cm. The rate of fertilizers applied was 50<br />kg urea, 100 kg SP36, and 75 kg KCl per ha. Plant control was<br />conducted intensively as recommended. Several characters<br />observed were time to flower, flowering duration, number of<br />flower, number of pod, number of filled pod, number of empty<br />pod, seed yield/plant, and 100 seed weight. Combined analysis<br />of variance show that all characters oberved were significantly<br />affected by varieties. Flower abortion of soybean varieties<br />range from a low of 6.6% for Lawit to a high of 39.1% for<br />Kawi. Lawit variety was used as high yielding potential parent<br />which has lowest percentage of flower abortion (6.6%) and<br />highest percentage of flower to pod (93.4%).</p>