Abstract
The aim of the study was to determine the effect of foliar application of salicylic acid (SA) on Lilium cut flower quality. At the stage of bud initiation, four concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 200 ppm) of SA were sprayed on shoot. After treatment, morphological and physiological characteristics were measured within 7 days. It is resulted that SA and Time have significant effect on flowering stem length (FSL), flowering stem diameter (FSD) and bud volume (BV) (P<0.01) and also the interaction between SA*Time has a significant effect on bud volume (P<0.05). According to the results, flowering stem length, flowering stem diameter and bud volume were significantly influenced by SA pretreatment and time. SA pretreatment at 50 ppm concentration had a positive effect on mentioned traits however at high concentration, especially at 200 ppm concentration, inhibitory effects were observed. There was an increasing trend in values for these traits over time and the highest values were obtained in the last day. Leaf chlorophyll and malondialdehyde content were not significantly affected by exogenous SA treatment hence promotion effects of SA on oxidative stress was not clear. Membrane stability of the younger leaves were greater than the older leaves furthermore the response of these leaves, against SA treatment, was more tolerable. Overall, the damaging effect of high dosages of SA is more on middle leaves and also this leaves showed more response to SA spray. In this case probably SA pre-harvest spray can done on the stem middle leaves and upper leaves and avoid of damaging effects of SA on other parts of plants specially flower bud induction or initiation. It is concluded that SA at 50ppm concentration improves morphological characteristics of Lilium cut flower so the flower quality increases in response to these modifications.
Published Version
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