Evaluation of water requirement, commercial quality, and yield response factor of gladiolus produced with automated irrigation in different growing periods

Abstract

Water management and meteorological conditions during the cropping phase play an essential role in maintaining the commercial quality of cut flowers. This study evaluates water requirement, sensitivity to water deficit, and commercial quality of gladiolus ‘Amsterdam’ produced with automated irrigation in different growing periods. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with five replicates and consisted of the growing period factors (winter/spring 2018 and autumn/winter 2019) and the irrigation level factors (45% - L1, 60% - L2, 80% - L3, and 100% - L4 of crop water requirement). An automatic irrigation controller was used for irrigation management. At the harvest point, we evaluated the stems for the diameter, number of flowers, spike length, and floral stem length. We also evaluated stomatal conductance, leaf area, and duration of phenological phases on degree-days. The application of 100% crop water requirement using an automatic irrigation controller in the autumn/winter cycle results in better commercial classification. The treatment with 45% of the crop water requirement extended the total duration of the cycle. In conclusion, flower stems of better commercial classification are obtained with 100% of crop water requirement during the autumn/winter cycle.

Postharvest and anthochron of gladiolus floral stems produced in greenhouse under different seasons and irrigation levels

“…The winter/spring cultivation was carried out in the period from September 7 th to November 27 th of 2018 and the autumn/winter cultivation from April 12 th to July 4 th of 2019. During the winter/spring cycle, the reproductive phase of the stems occurred under higher average temperatures (20.5 to 41.5 ºC) than those recorded for the autumn/winter cycle (18.3 to 40.7 ºC), which explains the more significant accumulation of degree-days in the winter/spring cycle (Santos et al, 2020). The maximum and minimum values recorded for relative humidity (RH%) in the autumn/winter production were 89.8% and 21.2%, respectively, while in the winter/ spring production, it was 88.8% and 18.7%, respectively.…”

“…Amsterdam was used, which has white flowers and, approximately, 75 days of cycle. Vernalized medium-sized bulbs (circumference from 12 to 14 cm) were purchased from Terra Viva and planted in a triangular arrangement, with a spacing of 10 cm between bulbs and 10 cm deep (Ahmad et al, 2013, Santos et al, 2020.…”

“…Thus, when the system was activated, all pots were irrigated simultaneously, with volumes of water corresponding to the respective flow rates of the emitters (treatments). In total, 5.24, 6.68, 8.65 and 10.81 L (winter/spring cycle) and 4.91, 6.58, 8.25 and 10.25 L of water per plant (autumn/winter cycle) were applied for the 45% (L1), 60% (L2), 80% (L3) and 100% (L4) treatments, respectively (Santos et al, 2020).…”

“…The gladiolus' demand follows the sales pattern of most flowers, and it is important that high-quality flowers are produced throughout the year (Paiva et al, 2020). It is especially important that the water volume is adjusted to the crop, producing high quality stems that can last longer, increasing marketing efficiency (Santos et al, 2020). Considering that the production of gladiolus flowers is influenced by the growing season (Schwab et al, 2014;Schwab et al, 2017) and that the longevity of flowers is reduced when the plants are grown under stress, we hypothesize that the gladiolus floral stems present lowest longevity when produced under deficit irrigation and that they are also affected by the conditions of the growing period.…”

Yield response factor (Ky) and initial growth in black pepper in a tropical environment

“…The pressure switch turned off the irrigation stream when the soil water tension reached approximately 1.0 kPa. The SIC has been used in various studies and offers adequate irrigation management in the tomato (Gomes et al, 2017), onion (Mello et al, 2018), gladiolus (Santos et al, 2020), zinnia (Martins et al, 2021), and forest tree species (Bueno et al, 2020(Bueno et al, , 2021, among others, both in pots/tubs and under field conditions.…”