Articles
THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT QUALITY AND TEMPERATURE ON THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHRYSANTHEMUM CVS BRIGHT GOLDEN ANNE AND SNOWDON
Snowdon and cv.
Bright Golden Ann under three different temperatures i.e. 15.6 ± 0.4°C, 19.8 ± 0.4°C and 24.4 ± 0.5°C in glasshouses.
Five different colour filters (i.e. ‘Blue absorbing’, ‘Blue and Red absorbing’, ‘Red absorbing’, and two ‘partially Blue absorbing’ materials) were tested, with clear polythene as a control.
Plant height was significantly affected by the filters, as well as the temperatures.
Analysing the data in terms of their effects on putative photo receptors suggested that plant height in chrysanthemum was regulated by the action of both phytochrome and a ‘blue’ acting photoreceptor.
Internode lengths decreased as temperature increased.
There was no evidence for an effect of phytochrome on time to flowering and increasing levels of blue light significantly reduced time to flowering.
Simple models were constructed from the data to predict the effects of different spectral qualities on final plant height, internode length and time to flowering of chrysanthemum.
These models were then applied to simulate the potential benefits of spectral filters (applied as cladding materials) for growth control.