Effect of Acidifying Irrigation Water on the Yield and Quality of Carnations

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Former Graduate Student Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Hamadan

2 Professor,Tarbiat Modarres University

3 Assissant Profeosor, Horticulture Department, Tehran university

Abstract

The reduced yield and poor quality of ornamental flowers produced in Iran have been threatening ability to compete in international market. Some of the important and effective factors that determine the yield and quality of ornamental flowers include, the calcareous nature of soils, negligence in providing proper and balanced nutrition, and the poor quality of irrigation water used to grow ornamental flowers. High pH as result of high concentrations of bicarbonate in irrigation water are leading to the reduced water quality. Obviously use of poor quality water in the commerical glasshouses increases the pH of plant sap and lowers the activity of such elements as phosphorus, iron, zinc and manganese within the conductive tissues. In order to evaluate the effect of eliminating irrigation water bicarbonate on the yield and quality of carnations produced by Khadem nurseries located at kilometer 30 of Khavaran Highway in Golzar village, an experiment was carried out during 1999-2000 growing season in the following manner. After  measurements and calculating the amount of sulfuric acid required to lower the pH of irrigation water to 6 by titration, two treatments were tested, namely: T1 = applying Kristalone green fertilizer + irrigation with well water, and T2 = applying Kristalone green fertilizer + acidified water (pH= 6) for irrigation. Based on measurements 46 ml of 36 N sulfuric acid was required to lower pH of one cubic meter of irrigation water to the desired level (6). A randomized complete block design with 3 replications was used in this experiment during which the yield and quality characteristics of the carnations were evaluated. Results showed that applying acidified irrigation water (pH 6) significantly (= 0.05) increased the diameter of flower disc as well as the chloropyll content of the leaves. The acidified water (pH=6) also significantly improved (= 0.01) the height and the diameter of flowering stems and the vase life of flowers as compared to the control. Furthermore, T2 (Acidified water) Significantly (=0.05) decreased stem lodging (bending), disc splitting as well as the leaf concentrations of Zn and B but increased the concentration of phosphorus at 1 % level of significance.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Soil Research
Volume 22, Issue 1
June 2008
Pages 103-111

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