The influence of light color on the rooting of 'Horim Golden' Chrysanthemum cuttings

Abstract

The influence of three different colors of light; blue, green and red, compared with white light as the control, on the rooting of <i>Chrysanthemum</i> cuttings, is presented in this paper. The mother plants and cuttings were irradiated during rooting with different colors of light. This was shown to have had visible influence on the morphological differentiation of cuttings. It also affected the carbohydrate content in them. The rooting of the cuttings reflected this influence. The cuttings obtained from plants grown under white (control) or red light were characterized by well-developed root systems in terms of the number, length and mass of the roots. The cuttings from the plants grown under green light were the worst. The influence of the color of the light on the speed with which the first roots were formed was the reverse. The cuttings from the plants irradiated with green light rooted the quickest, next in order were those from plants irradiated with blue, red and white light. Irradiating cuttings with differently colored light during rooting only had an effect on the number of roots formed. This number was high, close to that of control cuttings, in cuttings exposed to red light, decidedly lower in those exposed to blue and, in particular, green light.