Abstract
Oncidium are grown worldwide and play important economic roles. The objective of this study was to investigate the pseudobulb growth and flowering characteristics of the two Oncidesa Gower Ramsey cultivars, ‘Honey Angel (HA)’ and ‘Golden Star (GS)’, cultivated under 3 kinds of fertilizer treatments in response to 40% light intensity (LI-40) and 30% light intensity (LI-30, as control) photosynthetic photon flux density over a 5-month period. The conventional-fertilizer (CF) treatment, as a control, consisted of a liquid manure solution of N:K = 1:1.12, mixed with 7.8% N, 0.8% P2O5, 0.3% K2O, and 57.3% of organic matter that was foliage-applied to plants twice weekly. The stage-fertilizer (SF) treatment consisted of N:P:K = 1:1:5 foliage-applied to plants in an unsheathing pseudobulb stage until reaching inflorescence, followed by N:P:K = 1:1:1 application until the end of the experiment. The fortnight-fertilizer (FF) treatment consisted of N:P:K = 1:1:5 and N:P:K = 1:1:1 with interval-rotate foliage-application to plants weekly until the end of the experiment. Pseudobulb length (PL), pseudobulb major axis (PW), and pseudobulb minor axis (PT), and inflorescence length (FL), number of pedicel (FB), and floret numbers (FN) per plant were recorded and calculated from two months after pseudobulb maturity until the end of the five-month experimental period. The GS variety significantly increased PL when treated with CF and FF compared to HA, and GS treated with CF under LI-30 exhibited the longest PL at 81.65 mm. PW increased as LI increased under FF treatment, and the largest PW was observed in GS treated with FF under LI-40. A maximal and significant increase in PT occurred in LI-40 compared to LI-30 under the CF treatment. GS had a significantly higher FL compared to HA treated with CF, and the longest FL was detected in GS under LI-30. HA had a significantly higher FB and FN under LI-40 than under LI-30, and the highest number of FB and FN in HA occurred when it was treated with CF and SF, respectively. Precision management of fertilization treatments in response to LI can maximize pseudobulb growth, development, and flowering quality in Oncidesa species.
Highlights
Orchids are among the most prized ornamental plants due to the variety of their flower size, shape, fragrance, and color combinations, which attract consumers and give them higher global commercial values
The effects of LI on the Oncidesa varieties cultivated with different fertilization treatments were recorded by measuring changes in Pseudobulb length (PL), PW, PT, FL, FB, and floret numbers (FN), and each treatment was assumed to be dependent on the others in the experiment
When the V × L interaction was examined for significance, all flower quality components significantly differed at the 0.1%, 1%, or 5% levels, suggesting that the effects of LI treatments on FL, FB, and FN differed with variety
Summary
Orchids are among the most prized ornamental plants due to the variety of their flower size, shape, fragrance, and color combinations, which attract consumers and give them higher global commercial values. In addition to the species, thousands more interspecific and intergeneric hybrids have been registered with the Royal Horticultural Society and are used in the commercial production of cut and pot flowers worldwide [4]. Orchid cultivation has evolved in recent decades to become an economically important activity, especially Oncidium genres, which stand out in internal and export markets and production trades. The Taiwan cut flower market of Oncidesa species has expanded worldwide, especially in exports to Japan, and in 2019, the total export value reached 20 million U.S
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