Effects of salicylic acid and humic material preharvest treatments on postharvest physiological properties of statice cut flowers

Abstract

Statice ornamental plants have a great potential for use in urban landscapes, producing cut flowers and flowering pot plants. Based on the previous reports, it was our hypothesis that the use of humic materials (HM) and salicylic acid (SA) can improve the growth and yield, and also the resistance of static plants to many harsh environmental conditions. Therefore, the effect of HM at 4 concentrations of 0 (control), 2, 4 and 6 g.m−2 (which were added as basal at the beginning of planting at the transplanting stage) and the effect of SA at 4 concentrations of 0 (control), 1, 2 and 3 mM (applied as a foliar solution every two weeks until the flowering stage was started) were evaluated on the growth characteristics of Limonium sinuatum (L.) Mill. cv. Qis Mix (Graines Voltz, France) in the research station of Horticultural department, University of Tehran in 2017−2018. Statice seeds first were planted in 45 cells trays, 50 mL volume each, containing equal volumes of peat and perlite, and 30 days’ later seedlings transferred to the pots (4 L of volume) containing sandy loam field soil and kept grown for 4 months in the field condition inside the hole in the soil level prepared for the pots. The results showed that number of cut flowers produced per pot and growth traits was significantly increased under 1 mM treatment of SA and 6 g m−2 treatment of HM compared to control, but physiologically responded in terms of reduced ion leakage, less malone dialdehyde accumulation, less accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, and improved antioxidant enzymes activity with 1 mM of SA and with 4 g m−2 of HM. Findings reveal that a given concentration of SA foliar application could be an alternative improvement treatment instead basal application of HM in case facing harsh environmental conditions during statice cultivation.