Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf) Shinn.) is one of the ten most popular cut flowers in the world. Enhancing the quality and vase life of cut flowers is a main goal in cut flower industry. Lisianthus is a plant that requires high levels of nutrients during cultivation for resulting the best quality and quantity of cut flower. Therefore, balanced and appropriate nutrition is one of the important factors in improving the performance and vase life of cut flowers. For this purpose, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of nitrogen (N) and calcium (Ca) on flowering and vase life of cut flowers of Escalivo variety of Lisianthus in Isfahan University of Technology. After the complete establishment of seedlings, the treatments including calcium chloride in three concentrations (0, 1, and 2 g/L) and ammonium nitrate at three concentrations (0, 1, and 2 g/L) were sprayed twice with an interval of two weeks. This experiment was conducted as a 3x3 factorial in the form a randomized complete block design with four replications, each experimental material including five plants. Morphological indicators including height and number of flowering stem, number of flowers and number of leaves in flowering stem, fresh weight and dry weight of flowering stem and relative diameter of flower were measured. Physiological indicators including chlorophyll content, carotenoid content, anthocyanin content, relative water content, nitrogen and calcium content of the flowering stem were assayed. To eva‎luate the post-harvest characteristics, the flower stems were kept in containers containing 550 ml of distilled water at 25ºC and humidity at 60 to 70% and photoperiod of 12:12 hours night: day. Then, the vase life, water uptake, water loss, water balance, ion leakage and relative fresh weight of cut flowers were measured. Based on the results obtained from the present research, calcium chloride significantly affected the number of flowering stem, number of leaves, carotenoid, relative fresh weight and calcium content compared to the control. Furthermore, increasing the concentration of ammonium nitrate up to 2 g/L increased the number of flowering stem, carotenoids, nitrogen and calcium contents in shoot. Although there were no significant effects of calcium chloride and ammonium nitrate on the relative water content of leaf and flower and chlorophyll a content, however these treatment were affected on stem length, number of flowers, fresh and dry weight of flowering stem, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, Anthocyanin, leaf ionic leakage, plant water relations, and the vase life of the flowers, so that the maximum vase life of the flower was observed in the concentration of 2 g/L of calcium chloride ( 13.08 days) and the concentration of 1 g/L of ammonium nitrate (12.79 days). In general, based on the results obtained from this experiment, it showed that the treatment of 2 g/L of calcium chloride and 1 g/L of ammonium nitrate, as well as the treatment of are more effective treatment in improving the morphological and physiological traits, as well as improving the water relations of cut flower that led to enhancing the vase life

نعمت اله اعتمادي شلمزاري

علي نيكبخت

حسين شريعتمداري، مريم حقيقي