Effect of bulb size on growth, flowering and bulb formation in lachenalia cultivars

Abstract

A two-year field experiment was performed with three lachenalia cultivars of the African Beauty® series (Namakwa, Ronina, Rosabeth) to study the effects of bulb size on leaf formation, inflorescence quality and bulb formation. The test bulbs were divided into two size groups based on their circumference: 4.0-5.0 cm and 5.1-6.0 cm. The bulbs were cultivated in the open air in the conditions of southern Poland in 2009 and 2010. Plant height, inflorescence length, stem diameter and the number of florets, which are all very important quality features, increased with increasing bulb size at planting. The study showed that the larger bulbs of the cultivars from the African Beauty® series could produce even 3 leaves, whose width increased as the mother bulb circumference increased. In most cases, flower yield was dependent on bulb size. The cultivars proved to differ in terms of the time of blooming: cvs Namakwa and Ronina flowered earlier than cv. Rosabeth. The larger bulb size had a positive effect on the quality (circumference) of offsets.