Temporal stability of Heliconia spp. flower stem production

Rafael José Gomes,Cristiane Guiselini,Glécio Machado Siqueira,Héliton Pandorfi,João Carlos Cezar Albuquerque Filho,Vivian Loges

doi:10.14295/oh.v22i3.943

Abstract

The instability of heliconia flower stem production may be related to climatic variation. Therefore, that information is very important for planning the species production throughout Brazil, mainly in northeast region. The objective of this work was analyzed the previous effects of photoperiod, air temperature and precipitation in the flower stem production of Heliconia psittacorum cv. Red Opal, H. psittacorum x H. spathocircinata cv. Golden Torch, H. stricta cv. Fire Bird and H. rauliniana, and the monthly temporal stability. The flower stems with two to three open bracts were harvested twice a week between May, 2004 and March, 2012 from a field in Camaragibe – PE, Rain Forest Zone of Pernambuco, Brazil. Pearson’s linear correlation demonstrate flower stem production occur in response to the environment stimulus. H. rauliniana inflorescence initiation response mainly to the shortest photoperiod and cv. Fire Bird to highest photoperiod. Production of the cv. Golden Torch was more stable in April, with reduction in September (39.46%) and an increase in December (87.02%), compared with the annual average. The cv. Red Opal produced more in September (31.43%), with a reduction in February (44.8%) and stable in July. H. rauliniana production was stable in September and increase in November (274.8%). The cv. Fire Bird production was stable in April, with the lowest production in November and the highest in March (65%). With this information is possible to predict the cultivar production in the Rain Forest Zone of Pernambuco State, Brazil

Highlights

Floriculture industry has invested in supplying the Brazilian domestic market to protect itself from international crises (JUNQUEIRA and PEETZ, 2014)
In Pernambuco State, northeast region of Brazil, approximately 21 species and cultivars are produced as cut flowers
The flower stem production was conducted between December 2003 and June 2006 and September 2007 and March 2012 in the Heliconia Germplasm Collection of the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Camaragibe - PE, Brazil, latitude 7°56’33’’South, longitude 35°1’50”West and 100 m altitude

Summary

Introduction

Floriculture industry has invested in supplying the Brazilian domestic market to protect itself from international crises (JUNQUEIRA and PEETZ, 2014). Research with the Heliconia genus flowering behavior demonstrate that factors such as leaf number and the environment condition, mainly photoperiod, during the flowering cycle, period from shoot emission to inflorescence harvest, could influence the inflorescence development (Criley et al, 1999; Criley et al, 2003). Criley et al (1999) observer that once the pseudostem has a certain leaf number, inflorescence initiation could occur in response to a stimulus such as photoperiod, normally requiring slightly more than one-half of the development period or cycle of the plant. Criley et al (2004), based on this theoretical (1) Received in 19/08/2016 and accepted in 17/11/2016 (2) Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola, Recife-PE, Brazil. *Corresponding author: engenheirofael@ gmail.com (3) Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Departamento de Agronomia, Recife-PE, Brazil Criley et al (2004), based on this theoretical (1) Received in 19/08/2016 and accepted in 17/11/2016 (2) Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola, Recife-PE, Brazil. *Corresponding author: engenheirofael@ gmail.com (3) Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Departamento de Agronomia, Recife-PE, Brazil

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