Effect of benzyladenine on the abundance and quality of flower yield in the calla lily (Zantedeschia spreng.)

Abstract

The soaking of rhizomes, 15–18 cm in circumference in the cultivars 'Black Magic' and 'Mango' as well as 20+ cm in 'Albomaculata', with leaf buds 0.5–2 cm in length, in solutions of benzyladenine at concentrations of 100, 350 and 600 mg × dm -3 lasted 30 and 60 minutes. After this procedure, slightly dried rhizomes were planted into 20-cm pots. Rhizome soaking in BA at concentrations of 350–600 mg × dm -3 for 60 minutes increases the yield of flowers 3–4 times in 'Black Magic', 'Mango', and 'Albomaculata'. BA at concentrations of 350–600 mg × dm -3 retards the flowering of the cultivars 'Black Magic', 'Mango', and 'Albomaculata'. However, at 100 mg × dm -3 it brings flowering forward in 'Mango' and 'Albomacu- lata'. BA at a concentration of 600 mg × dm -3 inhibits the growth of peduncles, while at a concentration of 100–600 mg × dm -3 it causes the formation of longer spathes in the cultivar 'Albomaculata'. In 'Black Magic' at a concentration of 350–600 mg × dm -3 and in 'Mango' at a concentration of 100–600 mg × dm -3, it causes the development of flowers with a smaller weight.