Potential growing model for the standard carnation cv. delphi

Abstract

The cut flower business requires exact synchronicity between product offer and demand in consumer countries. Having tools that help to improve this synchronicity through predictions or crop growth monitoring could provide an important advantage to program standards and corrective agronomic practices. At the Centro de Biotecnologia Agropecuaria, SENA (SENA’s Biotechnology, Agricultural and Livestock Center), located in Mosquera, Cundinamarca, a trial with standard carnation cv. Delphi grown under greenhouse conditions was carried out. The objective of this study was to build a simple model of dry matter (DM) production and partition of on-carnation flower stems. The model was based on the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) MJ m-2 d-1 and temperature as exogenous variables and assumed no water or nutrient limitations or damage caused by pests, disease or weeds. In this model, the daily DM increase depended on the PAR, the light fraction intercepted by the foliage (FLINT) and the light use efficiency (LUE) g MJ-1. The LUE in the vegetative and reproductive stages reached values of 1.31 and 0.74 g MJ-1, respectively. The estimated extinction coefficient (k) value corresponded to 0.53 and the maximum FLINT was between 0.79 and 0.82. Partitioning between the plant vegetative and reproductive stages was modeled based on the hypothesis that the partition is regulated by the source sink relationship. The estimated partition coefficient for the vegetative stage of the leaves was 0.63 and 0.37 for the stems. During the reproductive stage, the partitioning coefficients of leaves, stems and flower buds were 0.05, 0.74, and 0.21, respectively.