THE HEIGHT OF SOME SPICE PLANTS DEPENDING ON LIGHT CONDITIONS AND TEMPERATURE

Barbara Frąszczak, Mikołaj Knaflewski, Mirosława Ziombra
Department of Vegetable Crops, University of Life Sciences in Poznań, Poland

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to study the effect of quantity of light, day length and temperature on growth of following spice plants: dill ‘Ambrozja’ (Anethum graveolens L), garden chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium L. Hoffm.), garden rocket (Eruca sativa Lam.) and parsley ‘Titan’ (Petroselinum crispum Mill. subsp. crispum). Plants were grown in growth chambers. Daily photon flux and temperature had the greatest influence on height of plants. The highest plants of all the species were recorded where plants grew in daily photon flux of PAR – 2.9 mol·m^-2 and temperature 25°C.

Key words: artificial light, temperature, height, spice plants.

INTRODUCTION

Production spice plants in containers by growers is becoming increasingly difficult as markets write detailed specifications for products both in time of delivery and quality factors such height plants. Control of plant height and elongation growth is an important aspect in the cultivation of many pot plants [11]. That is just the height is one of the most important factor, that is decided if the spice plants in the pots are high-quality and ready to sale.

The height of the plants depends on correlation between genetic and environmental factors. Good variety and optimisation of its growth conditions are basic to receive plants of high quality. The knowledge of optimum coefficient of growth is very important elements to work out a low-expenditure received trade product that is spice plants in the containers [3].

Light and temperature are the main climatic factors that have an influence on the height of plants. Horticulturists normally try to balance temperature and light to maintain adequate plant quality [6]. The aim of this work was to study the effect of quantity of light, length of day and temperature on the height of some spice plants.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Experiments were carried out in the experimental station “Marcelin” of the August Cieszkowski University of Agriculture in Poznań in the years 1999-2004. The four following species of spice plants were comprised of the experiment: dill ‘Ambrozja’ (Anethum graveolens L), garden chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium L. Hoffm.), garden rocket (Eruca sativa Lam.) and parsley ‘Titan’ (Petroselinum crispum Mill. subsp. crispum). Plants were grown in the growth chambers. The three-factor experiment was performed in 8 repetitions, where four pots were treated as one repetition. The first factor was the temperature, the second – daily photon flux and the third – day length. Three levels of temperature during the day were used: 25, 20 and 15°C (at night the temperature was 5°C degrees lower). Two daily photon flux of PAR (2.9 and 3.8 mol·m^-2) and three levels of day length (12, 14 and 16-h) were applied. Photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) was dependent on photoperiod so that daily photon flux of PAR amounted to 2.9 or 3.8 mol·m^-2. Artificial light was provided using fluorescent lamps 36W/84 of Philips Company. The experimental plants were grown in pots of 280-cm³ volume. The number of plants grown in pots was identical for individual species and amounted to 25-40 depending on species. Plants were harvested once, when they developed to three fully expanded leaves. Throughout the vegetation period and at the harvest time the height of plants was measured. The plants were measured every 7 days, first time 7 days after emergence for all species with the exception of parsley (14 days after emergency). In every pot 10 plants were measured. The results were analysed statistically with Newman-Keuls test at significance level α = 0.05. The ratio of the mass to the height (M/H Index) was calculated on the basis of obtained data. By the lower values of the M/H Index the plants were characterised by small weight, excessive elongation of hypocotyl and petiole. The higher values of M/H Index were characterised more compact plants.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of research on plants of tomato [1,4] indicate that the low light level during the vegetation conduct to elongated plants with excessively elongated hypocotyl and leaves stalk. The results obtained by authors confirm this. Especially, after first week of vegetation the highest growth rate and excessive elongation of hypocotyl (Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, Table 1) characterized the plants. The next weeks for all species were characterized by slower growth, but the plants lower after the first week grew faster than the plants higher after the first week.

The higher plants in harvest date were observed in the lower daily photon flux of PAR (2.9 mol·m^-2) for all species (Table 1). Tamura [9] obtained similar results in investigations of Plantago lanceolata L. The highest plants occurred at smallest light intensity. Grazia et al. [2] also reported that the level of light intensity was the most influenced factors on the lettuce plants height.

The plants cultivated in temperature 25°C were the highest throughout the vegetation period compared with temperature 15 and 20°C except garden rocket. Putievsky [7,8] also reported that, in his investigations the height of sweet basil, oregano and dill was clearly correlated with temperature and increased linearly as temperature increased. This appears to prove the assumption that higher temperature generally stimulated plant height [5,10]. Garden rocket was characterised by the highest plants in temperature 15°C. The higher temperature slowed down these plants growth. The temperature had diverse influence on the plants height.

The day length had diverse influence on the plant’s height. In our experiment the highest plants of dill and parsley were obtained in 12 hours day length and garden rocket in 16 hours day length. The day length had the less influence than quantum of light on the height of dill and garden rocket, in parsley also less than temperature. The day length had no influence on the garden chervil plants height.

The important is also that interaction of photon flux, length day and temperature exerted a significant influence on the plants height of all species except parsley (Table 2, Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4).

The relationship W/H was, for all species excluding parsley, lower for lower photon flux of PAR 2.9 mol·m^-2 (Table 3). The higher values of W/H Index of all the examined plant species except garden chervil were recorded for 12 and 14 h day length. The temperature had diverse influence on the W/H Index.

CONCLUSIONS

1. The daily photon flux of PAR had the greater influence on the height plants of all species than day length and temperature.

2. The highest plants of all species in the harvest time were recorded in the treatment where plants grew in 2.9 mol·m^-2 daily photon flux.

3. The higher plants were obtained in higher temperature for all species except garden rocket.

REFERENCES

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Accepted for print: 15.04.2008

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