Articles
RESPONSE OF ASIATIC LILY TO NUTRIENT SOLUTION RECYCLING IN A CLOSED SOILLESS CULTURE
Article number
697_25
Pages
199 – 212
Language
English
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate growth and yield of Asiatic lily (Lilium × hybrida ‘Zsa Zsa’) in response to electrical conductivity (EC) of a circulating nutrient solution.
Lily bulbs were planted in black tuff and grown under greenhouse conditions.
The plants were fertigated starting with a fresh nutrient solution at 1.4 mS/cm.
The drain solution was automatically recycled and mixed with the fresh solution to form the supply solution, which was recycled several times until its EC reached 1.6, 1.8, 2 or 2.2 mS/cm.
The supply (recirculating) solution was then replaced with a fresh nutrient solution.
This strategy was adopted until harvest (9 wk after shoot emergence). Results indicated that 1.6 mS/cm of the supply solution was superior to the other EC values with respect to growth and flowering.
Stem height, shoot dry weight, and peduncle length decreased as EC increased up to 2 mS/cm, beyond which they did not change.
A supply solution at 1.6 mS/cm exhibited the lowest pH and highest contents of P and K. As EC increased, concentrations of N, Na, Cl, Ca, Mg, Zn, and Mn in the supply solution increased.
Over a period of 22 days of recirculation, pH and concentrations of N, Na, Cl, Ca, and Mg increased and those of P and K decreased with time.
At harvest, the highest levels of P and Mo were detected in plants receiving a solution at 1.6 and 2.2 mS/cm, respectively.
Furthermore, Cl concentration was higher in plants receiving a solution at 2-2.2 mS/cm compared with 1.6-1.8 mS/cm.
Concentration of other nutrients in the leaves was not affected by EC.
Lily bulbs were planted in black tuff and grown under greenhouse conditions.
The plants were fertigated starting with a fresh nutrient solution at 1.4 mS/cm.
The drain solution was automatically recycled and mixed with the fresh solution to form the supply solution, which was recycled several times until its EC reached 1.6, 1.8, 2 or 2.2 mS/cm.
The supply (recirculating) solution was then replaced with a fresh nutrient solution.
This strategy was adopted until harvest (9 wk after shoot emergence). Results indicated that 1.6 mS/cm of the supply solution was superior to the other EC values with respect to growth and flowering.
Stem height, shoot dry weight, and peduncle length decreased as EC increased up to 2 mS/cm, beyond which they did not change.
A supply solution at 1.6 mS/cm exhibited the lowest pH and highest contents of P and K. As EC increased, concentrations of N, Na, Cl, Ca, Mg, Zn, and Mn in the supply solution increased.
Over a period of 22 days of recirculation, pH and concentrations of N, Na, Cl, Ca, and Mg increased and those of P and K decreased with time.
At harvest, the highest levels of P and Mo were detected in plants receiving a solution at 1.6 and 2.2 mS/cm, respectively.
Furthermore, Cl concentration was higher in plants receiving a solution at 2-2.2 mS/cm compared with 1.6-1.8 mS/cm.
Concentration of other nutrients in the leaves was not affected by EC.
Authors
N.S. Karam, B.H. Al-Daood
Keywords
Lilium × hybrida, recirculation, electrical conductivity, nutrient balance, black tuff
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