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- Author or Editor: Jianjun Chen x
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Ficus benjamina is considered to have a high degree of morphological and physiological plasticity in response to light levels. In this study, leaf area and thickness, specific leaf area (SLA), chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic characteristics of Ficus benjamina `Common'; grown in a shaded greenhouse under four maximum photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFDs) of 150, 250, 450, or 650 μmol·m-2·s-1 were investigated. Results showed that plants grown under 450 and 650 PPFDs had higher SLA and leaf thickness but smaller leaf areas than those grown under 150 and 250 PPFDs. Total chlorophyll content per unit leaf area decreased as PPFDs increased. Net photosynthetic rates (Pn) increased from 2.7 μmol·m-2·s-1 under 150 PPFD to 5.7 μmol·m-2·s-1 under 450 PPFD, then slightly decreased to 5.5 μmol·m-2·s-1 under 650 PPFD. The highest net photosynthetic rate was not associated with higher intercellular CO2 concentrations (Ci) and stomatal conductance (gs) as plants grown under 250 PPFD had the highest (Ci) (259 ppm) and gs (0.1 mol·m-2·s-1), which suggests that photosynthetic enzymes could play a increasing role under 450 PPFD. Plant quality, however, was not necessarily correlated with the Pn because only those grown under 250 PPFD had appropriate heights, large and dark green leaves, and well-spread branches, and thus were graded higher than plants grown under the other PPFDs. This study shows that fine-tuning production light level is important for high quality Ficus benjamina production.
Pothos (Epipremnum aureum Linden & Andre), a climbing vine with leathery, shiny-surfaced, solid green or variegated heart-shaped leaves, is widely grown as an ornamental tropical foliage plant in hanging baskets or on poles as climbers for interiorscaping. Since pothos easily develops roots from nodes, its propagation is mainly from eye cuttings. Eye cuttings, however, frequently carry diseases from stock plants into production greenhouses. The objectives of this study were to investigate if somatic embryogenesis could be induced from a common cultivar `Golden Pothos' and germinated somatic embryos could be a means of clean propagule production. Using a modified MS medium supplemented with 2 mg·L-1 CPPU or TDZ and 0.2 mg·L-1 NAA or 0.5 mg·L-1 2,4-D, somatic embryos formed directly at cut edges of leaf explants, around petiole and stem explant ends, and along their side surfaces. Most somatic embryos maturated and grew into multiple buds or shoots; some of them developed into whole plants on the original medium. Somatic embryos also germinated and developed into plants on MS medium containing 2 mg·L-1 Zeatin and 0.2 mg·L-1 NAA, MS or 1/2 MS containing 2 mg·L-1 BA with or without 0.2 mg·L-1 NAA. Shoots elongated and roots grew on PGR-free medium. Plantlets grew healthy in shaded greenhouses after transferring to soilless substrates. This study suggests that the established method of somatic embryogenesis can be used to generate disease-free propagules of pothos for production.
Epimedium species are traditional Chinese medicinal plants as well as potential groundcover and ornamental plants. In this study, genome size and genome structures of Epimedium species were investigated using flow cytometric and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The nuclear DNA content of Epimedium species ranged from 8.42 pg/2C (8230.7 Mbp) to 9.97 pg/2C (9752.8 Mbp). The pairwise nucleotide diversity (π) of the fragments of the genes for reverse transcriptase (rt) of Ty1-copia retrotransposon within a species of rt fragments ranged from 0.251 to 0.428 in 10 Epimedium species. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences revealed four major clades with the largest subclade containing 72 sequences of relatively low nucleotide diversity. FISH indicated that Ty1-copia retrotransposons are distributed unevenly along the pachytene chromosomes of E. wushanense and E. sagittatum, mostly associated with the pericentromeric and terminal heterochromatin. The relatively low sequence heterogeneity of Ty1-copia rt sequences implies that the Epimedium genomes have experienced a few relatively large-scale proliferation events of copia elements, which could be one of the major forces resulting in the large genome size of Epimedium species.
This study is the first report of using titanium dioxide (TiO2) to control Xanthomonas bacterial blight on geranium and leaf spot on poinsettia. Potted zonal geranium ‘Patriot Bright Violet’ and poinsettia ‘Snowcap’ were grown in a greenhouse and treated with a foliar spray of TiO2 at 25 and 75 mm, respectively, twice. Titanium-treated and control geranium plants were inoculated with Xanthomonas hortorum pv. pelargonii and poinsettias were inoculated with Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. poinsettiicola. The experiment was repeated once. The numbers of lesions on geranium leaves sprayed with TiO2 at 25 and 75 mm were 53% and 67%, respectively, less than in control plants in the first trial, but there were no significant differences among treatments in the second trial. Results on poinsettia, however, showed significant decrease in lesion numbers in both trials. Plants treated with TiO2 at 25 and 75 mm showed 85% and 93% reduction in lesions, respectively, in the first trial and 87% and 92% reduction in lesions in the second trial. No symptoms of phytotoxicity were observed. This study suggests that TiO2 has potential as an alternative to currently labeled products for controlling Xanthomonas bacterial blight in geranium and leaf spot on poinsettia.
Bromeliads are important ornamental foliage plants, but until now, their daily water use during production was unknown. Using a canopy closure model developed for container-grown woody ornamental plants, in this study we investigated actual evapotranspiration (ETA) of Guzmania ‘Irene’ and Vriesea ‘Carly’ from tissue-cultured liners grown in 15-cm containers to marketable sizes in a shaded greenhouse. The mean daily ETA of Guzmania ‘Irene’ ranged from 4.02 to 66.35 mL per plant, and the mean cumulative ETA was 16.66 L over a 95-week production period. The mean daily ETA of Vriesea ‘Carly’ varied from 3.98 to 59.89 mL per plant, and the mean cumulative ETA was 15.52 L over the same production period as the Guzmania cultivar. The best-fit models for predicting daily ETA of the two bromeliads were developed, which had correlation coefficients (r 2) of 0.79 for Guzmania ‘Irene’ and 0.68 for Vriesea ‘Carly’. The success in the model of ETA for both bromeliads suggested that the canopy closure model was equally applicable to container-grown ornamental foliage plants produced in greenhouse conditions. The daily ETA and cumulative ETA values represent research-based information on water requirements, and, when applied, could improve irrigation practices in bromeliad production. This study also showed that roots per se of the two epiphytic bromeliads were able to absorb water and nutrients from a peat-based container substrate and support their complete life cycles.
Homalomena `Emerald Gem' is an important ornamental foliage plant and widely used for interior plantscaping. Current propagation of this cultivar has been primarily carried out through in vitro culture by organogenesis; regeneration through somatic embryogenesis has not been documented. This report describes successful plant regeneration via direct somatic embryogenesis from explants of different organs. Somatic embryos formed at and around the cut surface of petiole, spathe, and peduncle explants. Embryos also appeared at the base between expanded ovaries of the spadix segment, and around midrib of leaf explants. The optimal treatments for somatic embryo occurrence from petiole, spathe, and peduncle explants were MS medium containing 0.2 mg/L NAA or 0.5 mg/L 2, 4-D with 2.0 mg/L CPPU, and for spadix explants were MS medium with 0.5 mg/L PAA and 2.5 mg/L TDZ. Somatic embryos appeared 6 to 8 weeks after culture and formed large embryo clumps in 3 to 4 months. Somatic embryos produced more secondary embryos and geminated on induction medium. Multiple shoot development and plant regeneration occurred from somatic embryo clusters on MS medium without hormone or with 2 mg/L BA and 0.2 mg/L NAA. The regenerated plants grew vigorously after transplanting to a soilless container substrate in a shaded greenhouse.
Tissue-culturedexplantsofDieffenbachiamaculate`Exotic Perfection', D.`Snow Flake', and D. × `Tropic Breeze' were grown on ebb-and-flow trays subirrigated with nitrogen (N) at 50, 200, or 800 mg·L-1 using a water-soluble fertilizer 17N–2.1P–15.7K for 10 weeks in a shaded greenhouse under a maximum photosynthetic photon flux density of 285 μmol·m-2·s-1. Plants were then transferred to interior rooms under a light level of 8 μmol·m-2·s-1. Samples of the midrib were taken from the first mature leaf of plants before being placed indoors and also from the first mature leaf of plants 8 months after growing indoors. Counts of calcium oxalate crystal idioblasts in cross-sections of the basal midrib using polarized light microscopy showed that the number of crystal idioblasts was higher in all three cultivars fertigated with 200 mg·L-1 N than those fertigated with either 50 or 800 mg·L-1 N. The number of crystal idioblasts in each cultivar grown under 8 μmol·m-2·s-1 was about 50% of the number detected when plants were grown under 285 μmol·m-2·s-1. `Snow Flake' had the highest number of crystal idioblasts with counts up to 60 per cross-section, whereas `Exotic Perfection' had the lowest with only 30 per cross-section. This study shows that in addition to cultivar differences, light intensity and N can significantly affect calcium crystal formation, and the highest number of crystal idioblasts occurred when Dieffenbachia cultivars were grown under optimum conditions.
Curcuma L. is an economically important genus in the family Zingiberaceae. Many species are grown as medicinal, culinary, and ornamental crops. As a result of their high morphological diversity and small chromosome sizes, chromosome numbers and species relationships of Chinese Curcumas remain debated. This study examined chromosome numbers of 15 populations representing 11 species of Curcuma from China. Results showed that only Curcuma flaviflora S. Q. Tong was diploid with 2n = 2x = 42 and C. kwangsiensis S. G. Lee & C. F. Liang was tetraploid with 2n = 4x = 84. The other species were triploid (2n = 3x = 63). The study indicated that the basic chromosome number of Curcuma from China could be x = 21. The diploid C. flaviflora produced viable seeds, which was the main means for propagation. The tetraploid and the triploids produced no seeds and relied on rhizomes for propagation. Chromosome sizes of all species were small, ranging from 0.5 to 2.1 μm, which prevented karyotype analysis. The fact that nine of 11 species studied were triploid indicates that triploidy may have some type of competitive advantage over the diploid and tetraploid. In addition, the triploids are popular commercially because of abundant rhizome production and this may contribute to their wide distributions.