Abstract
The relationship between Botrytis cinerea inoculum concentration and Botrytis blight on Rosa hybrida flowers from production greenhouses was monitored in the fall of 1985 and 1986 and winter of 1986 and 1987 under laboratory conditions. ‘Golden Wave’ rose flowers were inoculated with 0 to 104 conidia per milliliter and stored in incubation chambers at ≥95% RH and 21°C. Disease severity was quantified by the number of lesions per flower 48 hr after inoculation. The relationship between inoculum concentration and disease severity was linear; the coefficient of determination ranged from 0.87 to 0.99. The slope of the inoculum concentration–disease severity relationship was used to quantify susceptibility, which ranged from 0.006 to 0.035. Slopes were significantly greater with roses produced in December, January, and February (0.018 to 0.035) than those produced in October or November (0.006 to 0.013). Susceptibility of the flowers to B. cinerea was correlated linearly (r = 0.98) and inversely to the overall mean vapor pressure deficit from 0800 to 1900 hr for the 5-week growth period before harvest.
The influence of irradiance and drought on osmotic and turgor adjustment was examined in leaves of rose (Rosa hybrida L. `Samantha'). Plants cultured under full ambient light in the greenhouse were placed in shade chambers and, after 2 weeks of acclimation, exposed to drought for 21 days. Treatments consisted of a water stress factor (well-watered and drought-stressed) and an irradiance factor (100%, 70%, and 30% of ambient irradiance). Pressure-volume analyses of leaves indicated that osmotic potentials at full turgor were decreased 0.42, 0.36, and 0.23 MPa by drought in the 100%, 70%, and 30% irradiance treatments, respectively. Plants stressed under 100% and 70% irradiance exhibited similar osmotic adjustments. Plants under 30% irradiance had higher osmotic potentials at full turgor under well-watered conditions than plants in the other two irradiance treatments and showed only 55% as much adjustment to drought. In each irradiance treatment, drought induced an increase in elastic modulus and a decrease in relative water content at zero turgor. Turgor pressures were higher across a range of relative water contents in plants in the two higher irradiance treatments under both soil moisture treatments. Turgor also was higher at any particular water potential at 100% and 70% irradiance than 30% irradiance, within each soil moisture treatment. Heavy, but not mild, shading inhibited osmotic and turgor adjustments in leaves during drought.
Two greenhouses received ambient CO2 and two were enriched between 1000 and 1200 ppm CO2 when vents were closed. Two-year-old Rosa hybrida L. `Royalty', `Emblem', and `Samantha' plants growing in each house were pinched 20 Oct. and 28 Dec. 1992 for Christmas and Valentine's Day crops. All temperature set points were 22C/17C day/night. At flowering, 5 shoots from each bench location were destructively sampled for stem diameter, stem length, and fresh and dry weights of stem, leaves, and flower bud.
At flowering for the Christmas 1992 crop, shoots in the enriched houses tended to have larger stem, leaf, and flower fresh weights, and larger stem diameters. Analysis of variance found stem lengths of combined cultivars to be longer (p < .05) in the CO2 enriched houses. Mean stem lengths were 68.8 cm and 63.9 cm for flower stems in CO2 enriched and ambient houses, respectively. Dry weight data from the Christmas crop, and results from the 1993 Valentine's crop will be presented.
Rosa chinensis Jacq. var. mutabilis plants were grown in a greenhouse to determine whether a hand-held chlorophyll meter (SPAD-meter) is suitable for the plant N status assessment. Therefore, plants were fertilized with increasing levels of N, applied through urea form as top dressing. The doses were: 0, 0.15, 0.3, 0.45, 0.6, and 0.75 g of N per liter of substrate. Periodically during the growing season, plant height and width, fresh and dry weight of different plant organs at 10, 20, and 30 weeks after planting, and their total N, plant P, and K were measured. Furthermore, six times along the growing cycle, the amount of chlorophyll in leaves was estimated using a SPAD-meter and analytically measured by chlorophyll extraction with ethanol and reading through a spectrophotometer. In the same leaves, N concentration was also determined. Treatments with 0.45–0.6 g of N per liter of substrate gave the tallest and widest plant. Plant weight and flower production were also the highest with these doses. The concentration of organic N in plant organs increased along with the N availability in the substrate, which suggests that a “luxury consumption” took place. The SPAD values showed high correlation among chlorophyll and N concentrations. Values that ranged between 35–40 seemed to mean good nutrient status. A high correlation was also found among SPAD values and some of the productive characteristics, which indicates that a SPAD-meter is a suitable tool in the dynamic fertilization of rose.
Greenhouse rose plants, `Bull's Eye', budded on the rootstocks Rosa manetti and R. × `Natal Briar', were grown in containers filled with a peat-based growing medium. The plants were irrigated with a 0.5× Hoagland solution salinized with a fixed 12-mM Na solution made up of seven ratios of NaCl, Na2SO4, and NaNO3 (100:0, 50:50:0, 0:100:0, 0:50:50, 0:0:100, 50:0:50, and 33:33:33). The results after four flushes of growth and flowering showed higher dry weight productivities in R. manetti plants. Salt composition (i.e., counter-anion ratios) significantly affected the dry weight yield of `Natal Briar' plants, with those irrigated with 100% Na2SO4 and NaNO3 having the highest and lowest values, respectively. While the plants budded on R. manetti did not show significant responses to salt composition, there was a strong tendency for higher dry weight yields in binary salt (anion) compositions. Leachates collected throughout the study showed similar pH (7.5) and electrical conductivities (4.7 dS/m) for all salt treatments. Leachate Cl- concentrations were linearly correlated with Cl- application, whereas leachate Na+ concentrations remained similar among treatments. Plants on R. manetti accumulated less leaf Na+ and Cl- than in R. × `Natal Briar' plants, with lower values observed, in general, in plants irrigated with solutions containing Na2SO4.
Two-year-old Rosa hybrida L. `Royalty', `Emblem', and `Samantha' plants were pinched 20 Oct. and 28 Dec. 1992 for Christmas and Valentine's Day crops. At 10 and 25 days after pinch, and at flowering, 5 shoots from each bench location were destructively sampled for leaf (node) number, stem diameter, stem length, and fresh and dry weights of stem, leaves, and flower bud. Time to visible bud, to color, and to flower from pinch were also recorded.
Results were tabulated; an analysis of variance showed that the three rose cultivars produced flowers which were not significantly different within crops but were different between seasonal crops. The Christmas `Royalty' crop produced more flowers (but also more blind shoots) than did the Valentine's Day crop. Days to flower, stem diameters, and stem lengths were similar within and between crops for all cultivars. Total fresh and dry weights for all three cultivars tended to be greater for the Valentine's Day crop than for the Christmas crop. The seasonal photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) variation may account for these differences.
This paper details the development and verification of ROSESIM, a computer simulation model of the growth of `Royalty' roses (Rosa hybrida L.) based on experimentally observed growth responses from pinch until flowering under 15 combinations of constant photosynthetic photon flux (PPF), day temperature (DT), and night temperature (NT). Selected according to a rotatable central composite design, these treatment combinations represent commercial greenhouse conditions during the winter and spring in the midwestern United States; each selected condition was maintained in an environmental growth chamber having 12-hour photoperiods. ROSESIM incorporates regression models of four flower development characteristics (days from pinch to visible bud, first color, sepal reflex, and flowering) that are full quadratic polynomials in PPF, DT, and NT. ROSESIM also incorporates mathematical models of nine plant growth characteristics (stem length and the following fresh and dry weights: stem, leaf, flower, and total) based on data recorded every 10 days and at flowering. At each design point, a cubic regression in time (days from pinch) estimated the plant growth characteristics on intermediate days; then difference equations were developed to predict the resulting daily growth increments as third-degree polynomial functions of days from pinch, PPF, DT, and NT. ROSESIM was verified by plotting against time each simulated plant growth characteristic and the associated experimental observations for the eight factorial design points defining the region of interest. Moreover, one-way analysis of variance procedures were applied to the differences between ROSESIM predictions and the corresponding observed means for all 15 treatment combinations. At 20 days from pinch, significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed for all nine plant growth characteristics. At 30 and 40 days from pinch, only flower fresh and dry weights yielded significant differences; at flowering, none of the 13 selected responses yielded significant differences. These graphical and statistical comparisons provide good evidence of ROSESIM's ability to predict the growth response of `Royalty' roses over a wide range of constant environmental conditions.
A central composite rotatable design was used to estimate quadratic equations describing the relationship of irradiance, as measured by photosynthetic photon flux (PPF), and day (DT) and night (NT) temperatures to the growth and development of Rosa hybrida L. in controlled environments. Plants were subjected to 15 treatment combinations of the PPF, DT, and NT according to the coding of the design matrix. Day and night length were each 12 hours. Environmental factor ranges were chosen to include conditions representative of winter and spring commercial greenhouse production environments in the Midwestern United States. After an initial hard pinch, 11 plant growth characteristics were measured every 10 days and at flowering. Four plant characteristics were recorded to describe flower bud development. Response surface equations were displayed as three-dimensional plots, with DT and NT as the base axes and the plant character on the z-axis while PPF was held constant. Response surfaces illustrated the plant response to interactions of DT and NT, while comparisons between plots at different PPF showed the overall effect of PPF. Canonical analysis of all regression models revealed the stationary point and general shape of the response surface. All stationary points of the significant models were located outside the original design space, and all but one surface was a saddle shape. Both the plots and analysis showed greater stem diameter, as well as higher fresh and dry weights of stems, leaves, and flower buds to occur at flowering under combinations of low DT (≤ 17C) and low NT (≤ 14C). However, low DT and NT delayed both visible bud formation and development to flowering. Increased PPF increased overall flower stem quality by increasing stem diameter and the fresh and dry weights of all plant parts at flowering, as well as decreased time until visible bud formation and flowering. These results summarize measured development at flowering when the environment was kept constant throughout the entire plant growth cycle.
Rosa roxburghii Tratt, a perennial rosebush native to China, is widely distributed in the southwestern provinces of China ( Lu et al. 2021 ). According to local folk traditions, various parts of the R. roxburghii plant are used as herbal