Abstract
Calcium is an essential element and imparts significant structural rigidity to the plant cell walls, which provide the main mechanical support to the entire plant. In order to increase the mechanical strength of the inflorescence stems of herbaceous peony, the stems are treated with calcium chloride. The results shows that preharvest sprays with 4% (w/v) calcium chloride three times after bud emergence are the best at strengthening “Da Fugui” peonies’ stems. Calcium sprays increased the concentrations of endogenous calcium, total pectin content as well as cell wall fractions in herbaceous peonies stems, and significantly increased the contents of them in the top segment. Correlation analysis showed that the breaking force of the top segment of peonies’ stems was positively correlated with the ratio of water insoluble pectin to water soluble pectin (R = 0.673) as well as lignin contents (R = 0.926) after calcium applications.
Highlights
Herbaceous peonies (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) are popular and well-known ornamental plants [1,2], which originated in China, where most of the cultivars come from and the culture history of which has been known for more than 2000 years [3,4,5]
Quantitative analysis showed that the force required to break the stems which were treated with calcium was significantly higher than that required for the control, it was at least 118.0%, 112.5% and 106.4% in the control stems for the top, middle and bottom segment, respectively
We could reach the conclusion that preharvest sprays with 4% (w/v) calcium chloride three times after bud emergence were the best for the mechanical strength of “Da Fugui” peony stems
Summary
Herbaceous peonies (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) are popular and well-known ornamental plants [1,2], which originated in China, where most of the cultivars come from and the culture history of which has been known for more than 2000 years [3,4,5]. Peonies‟ cut flower production has been expanded in China [8], many cultivars of peonies in China have flexible peduncle or inflorescence stem due to weak stem strength and seriously impeded commercial cut flower production. Previous studies indicated that calcium applications could retard the bending of the gerberas inflorescence stems [15,16], and that calcium could improve the stem quality of herbaceous peonies, such as thickness and height [17], but the effect of calcium on the mechanical strength of peonies‟ stems is unclear. The cell wall of the herbaceous peony stem is a highly organized composite structure that contains cellulose, hemi-cellulose, lignin, polysaccharides, and proteins [18], but the effect of calcium applications on the cell wall fractions of peonies stems has not yet been described. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of calcium on these aspects of herbaceous peonies
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