(130) Dieffenbachia Calcium Oxalate Crystal Formation Affected by Cultivars, Nitrogen Rates, and Light Intensity

Abstract

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.