Mehdi Hosseinifarahi; Habib Alah Moazen; Azam Amiri; Mohammad Mahdi Jowkar; Javad Mottaghipisheh
Abstract
Seed priming is an established approach to the aim of accelerating germination and increasing germination percentage, which can be followed by high-quality seedlings and optimal plant growth. Culture media can influence the growth and nutritional status of seedlings at the nursery stage. In order to ...
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Seed priming is an established approach to the aim of accelerating germination and increasing germination percentage, which can be followed by high-quality seedlings and optimal plant growth. Culture media can influence the growth and nutritional status of seedlings at the nursery stage. In order to study the impact of seed priming and culture medium on germination performance and seedling growth, two separate laboratory and greenhouse experiments were planned in which the seeds and seedlings of sweet pepper and eggplant were subjected to various chemicals (i.e. growth regulators and nutrients) in the culture media. The results showed that the chemicals had a significant effect on seed priming by improving seed germination and root length in both plants. While putrescine improved seed germination, the highest germination percentage and root growth of both plants were observed in the salicylic acid treatment. Seed priming by humic acid was more effective than ZnSO4 and KNO3 in encouraging seed germination. The application of peat moss (solely or in combination with other culture media such as cocopeat and perlite) improved the growth parameters and nutritional status of commercially ready seedlings. The highest shoot weight (fresh and dry) in both plants were observed in seedlings grown on peat moss. Apart from improvements in vegetative features, peat moss enhanced the uptake and accumulation of nutrients such as N, P, K, Ca, and Mg, compared to cocopeat and perlite. In general, the results indicated that salicylic acid was the best priming treatment and peat moss was the best culture medium for the commercial production of eggplant and sweet pepper seedlings.AbbreviationsC: Cocopeat, Pe: Perlite, PM: Peat moss, P: Phosphorus, N: Nitrogen, Mg: Magnesium, K: Potassium, Ca: Calcium, SA: Salicylic acid, HA: Humic acid, GP: Germination percentage, Put: Putrescine, KNO3: Potassium nitrate, ZnSO₄: Zinc sulfate, DW: Distilled water, PAs:
Mohammadmahdi Jowkar; Nader Hassanzadeh; Mohsen Kafi; Ahmad Khalighi
Abstract
Disturbance in water relations is the major causes of vase life reduction and senescence in cut flowers This problem is mainly due to microorganism proliferation in the vase solution which leads to vascular occlusion and reduction in solution uptake by cut flowers. Therefore a comprehensive study was ...
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Disturbance in water relations is the major causes of vase life reduction and senescence in cut flowers This problem is mainly due to microorganism proliferation in the vase solution which leads to vascular occlusion and reduction in solution uptake by cut flowers. Therefore a comprehensive study was conducted to evaluate the biocidal effect of nano silver particles (NSP) and compare it with some previously applied biocides. Roses (cv. Cherry Brandy) were treated in a completely randomized design with: colloid of NSP, citric acid, aluminum sulfate, hydroxyquinoline citrate (HQC), calcium hypochlorite, sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), tap water, or sterilized distilled water as vase water or solution. Longest vase life was observed in flowers treated with nano silver particles, aluminum sulphate and citric acid, respectively. Nano silver particles, HQC and calcium hypochlorite were the most effective treatments in controlling microbial population followed by aluminum sulfate as the second effective treatment. Nano silver particles, HQC and calcium hypochlorite completely inhibited the microbial growth during the first six days of experiment. Moreover, aluminum sulfate retarded microbial growth, proliferation and growth rate more efficiently than others. Each treatment allowed proliferation of a specific microbe. In general, two yeasts, six fungi, and 26 bacterial colonies were isolated from different vase solutions. Among the isolated fungi, one isolate was Trichoderma harzianum and the five other were different strains of Fusarium solani. Identified bacterial isolates were Bacillus sp., Coccus spp., Streptomyces sp., Pectobacterium sp., Burkholderia sp., and Pseudomonas sp. Bacillus was the most wide spread microorganism in most treatments. Identified Bacillus sp. isolates were B. polymexa, B. subtilis, B. megaterium and B. circulans. Since nano silver significantly improved vase life and effectively controlled microbial proliferation in vase solution, our results suggest that nano silver application could be considered as a biocidal preservative solution for rose cut flowers.