<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Gerbera is a very important plant widely grown for cut flowers. To check the influence of salinity and boron excess in nutrient solution, nine treatments as factorial combination of three sodium chloride (NaCl) (1, 15 and 30 mM) and three boron (B) (0.1, 1 and 2 mM) concentrations in the nutrient solution were applied during the gerbera cultivation. The effects of experimental treatments on gerbera growth, flowering and the interaction in morphological and nutritional aspects were tested. The formation of leaves, stems and flowers, flower dry mass and evapotranspiration (ET) were more negatively affected when plants were irrigated with 2 mM B than with 0.1 mM B concentration. High levels of boron (1 and 2 Mm) in nutrient solution resulted in leaf chlorosis and necrosis. The severity of leaf burn was correlated with leaf B content. Salinity acted as a protector against boron content in leaves and flowers at 1 Mm B. However, at the 2 Mm B in nutrient solution, leaf B accumulation was not reduced by the presence of NaCl but also increased with the increased levels of salinity. The external levels of boron used in this study, which were found to be the highest in the literature, and the high sensitivity of gerbera to boron, suggested that boron acted as the dominant factor. Lower external boron concentrations would be needed to establish to what extent salinity would be able to mitigate the negative effects of boron.</p></abstract>

Gerbera is a very important plant widely grown for cut flowers. To check the influence of salinity and boron excess in nutrient solution, nine treatments as factorial combination of three sodium chloride (NaCl) (1, 15 and 30 mM) and three boron (B) (0.1, 1 and 2 mM) concentrations in the nutrient solution were applied during the gerbera cultivation. The effects of experimental treatments on gerbera growth, flowering and the interaction in morphological and nutritional aspects were tested. The formation of leaves, stems and flowers, flower dry mass and evapotranspiration (ET) were more negatively affected when plants were irrigated with 2 mM B than with 0.1 mM B concentration. High levels of boron (1 and 2 Mm) in nutrient solution resulted in leaf chlorosis and necrosis. The severity of leaf burn was correlated with leaf B content. Salinity acted as a protector against boron content in leaves and flowers at 1 Mm B. However, at the 2 Mm B in nutrient solution, leaf B accumulation was not reduced by the presence of NaCl but also increased with the increased levels of salinity. The external levels of boron used in this study, which were found to be the highest in the literature, and the high sensitivity of gerbera to boron, suggested that boron acted as the dominant factor. Lower external boron concentrations would be needed to establish to what extent salinity would be able to mitigate the negative effects of boron.

Growth, Evapotranspiration and Mineral Content of Gerbera Under Combined Salinity and Excess Boron

Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC-NRS)

Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE)

Department of Irrigation, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS-CSIC)

Journal of Horticultural Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Gerbera is a very important plant widely grown for cut flowers. To check the influence of salinity and boron excess in nutrient solution, nine treatments as...

Growth, Evapotranspiration and Mineral Content of Gerbera Under Combined Salinity and Excess Boron

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 61 - 69

Received: Jul 01, 2018

Accepted: Apr 01, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johr-2018-0017

Keywords
boron toxicity, NaCl, nutrient uptake, ornamental plants, cut flowers

© 2019 María José Gómez Bellot et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Growth, Evapotranspiration and Mineral Content of Gerbera Under Combined Salinity and Excess Boron

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 61 - 69

Received: Jul 01, 2018

Accepted: Apr 01, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johr-2018-0017

Keywordsboron toxicity, NaCl, nutrient uptake, ornamental plants, cut flowers

© 2019 María José Gómez Bellot et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
boron toxicity, NaCl, nutrient uptake, ornamental plants, cut flowers