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Pak. J. Bot., 41(6): 3117-3124, 2009. EFFECT OF VARIOUS FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS ON NUTRITIONAL CONTENT AND LENGTH OF STEM AND NODE OF A CARNATION (DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS L) SEEDLINGS IŞIN KOCABAŞ1 AND MUSTAFA KAPLAN1* 1 Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Akdeniz University, Antalya-07059, Turkey. Abstract In the present study, sprayed carnation cuttings either stored in a cold storage at 4oC for 55 days or non-stored were used as plant material. During rooting process, 3 different fertilizer solutions were applied through leaves of carnation cuttings at two separate application intervals and its respective effect on some of the morphological characteristics and nutritional contents of the seedlings were investigated. As a result of the study, it was found that the fertilizer solutions increased the K, Ca, Mg, Zn and Cu contents in seedlings obtained from stored cuttings and that the solutions increased the K, Ca and Cu contents in seedlings formed by rooting of non-stored cuttings while they attenuated the Mn amount. The fertilizer solutions increased the length between the stem and the first node and decreased the length between the stem and the fifth node in seedlings obtained from the stored cuttings. On the other hand, they increased the number of nodes in the seedlings from non-stored cuttings. Frequency of the application was found to affect the N, P, K and Mg amounts in seedlings obtained from stored cuttings and the Mg and Cu contents in seedlings obtained from non-stored cuttings. When their morphological characteristics were investigated, it was identified that the fertilizer solutions proved to affect the fifth node length of seedlings obtained from stored cuttings and the stem diameter of the seedlings obtained from non-stored cuttings. Introduction Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.), a member of Caryophllaceae family is native to the Mediterranean region (Salehi, 2006). As a result of the culture studies having been carried out since the Ancient Greek times on various characteristics of this plant such as the shape, quality, scent and color, hundreds of species of that plant have been developed (Çokuysal, 1994).Carnation are divided into two groups, standard and miniature (spray), they produce in each stem, one large terminal flower and several smaller lateral flowers, respectively (Dole & Wilkins, 1999). In Turkey, carnation is in the lead among species of cut flowers with a production amount of 259 million and $ 21.386.821 production value. Carnation production is carried out mostly in provinces of Antalya and İzmir (Babadoğan, 2009). Carnation production is carried out in three different ways; that is by means of seeds, cuttings and meristem culture. Most of the carnation producers in Turkey use cuttings as production method. In production with cuttings, the cuttings taken from the primary seedlings are used as seedlings again. This goes on for years, as a result of which quality and efficiency of carnation production decrease as it is contrary to principles of modern carnation production (Gürsan, 1988). Primary reason for low efficiency rates both in greenhouse and outdoor production areas across the country is the production using low quality seedlings. Carrying out production using proper and high quality seedlings is one of the most important factors affecting the efficiency positively (Kabay, 1999). Producers take cuttings from a primary carnation plant for 5 or 6 times every two weeks. There are two reasons for the producers to take cuttings from the carnation on a 3118 IŞIN KOCABAŞ & MUSTAFA KAPLAN frequent basis. The first one is abundance of carnation production areas despite limited areas reserved for seedlings and primary plants. The other reason is producers’ interest in gaining the market share where prices of cut plant are high. Thus, producers store cuttings taken from the seedlings in the cold storage for a long time, and then they implant them in a rooting media while they implant cuttings which are obtained lastly in a rooting media directly without storing them in the cold storage. However, significant challenges regarding the product quality are met in seedlings obtained from stored and non-stored carnation cuttings. The problem met in stored cuttings is that the young sprouts overgrow following rooting of stored cuttings, which eventually leads weakening of the sprout. As for the seedlings obtained from non-stored cuttings, the problem is that weak and short seedlings come into being. In this study, the effects of different fertilizers applied through leaves on the seedling morphology and nutritional contents during the rooting process have been examined. Several studies have been carried out on the seedlings multiplied from cuttings (Krisantini et al., 2002; Garrido et al., 2002; Haver et al., 2003; Salehi, 2006). However, no studies have been found on the effects of the fertilizer applied through leaf during the rooting process. In this study, it is aimed at producing data concerning solution and elimination of some challenges by means of fertilizer applications through leaf during the rooting process of the problematic seedlings. Materials and Methods In this study, cuttings were taken from the species “Darling” (red), which is widely used in spray carnation production, for two times. The carnation cuttings taken during the first period were stored in cold storage at 4oC for 55 days. The carnation cuttings taken during the second period was implanted in the rooting area composing of 2/5 torf + 3/5 pearlite, without being stored. An implantation plan of 3 cm x 3 cm with 96 carnation flowers in each parsel was applied in the rooting area. Chemical analysis results and morphological specialities of carnation samples prior to the rooting period are given in Table 1. Divided parsels in the experiment coincidence blocks were constructed with 4 recurrings according to the experimental plan. After four days of the implantation in the rooting area, one control and 3 different fertilizer solutions (Table 2) were applied every day and every other day by spraying on the leaves. The carnation seedlings were harvested 27 days after by cutting them closing to the root. Randomly selected carnation seedling plants were collected from each plot for element analysis, and transported to the laboratory in closed polyethylene bags. In order to eliminate surface contamination, the samples were carefully washed by distilled water. Samples were dried in a forced-air oven at 65oC to constant weight. The dried samples were ground in a stainless steel mill to pass through a 20 mesh screen and kept in clean polyethylene bags for analysis. The oven-dried-ground samples of 0.5 g were wet digested with 10 mL HNO3:HClO4 (4:1) acid mixture on a hotplate. The samples were then heated until a clear solution was obtained. The same procedure was repeated several times. The samples were filtered and diluted to 100 mL using distilled water. Concentrations of K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu contents in the digest were determined by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Kacar, 1972). N content of the samples has been analyzed according to modified Kjeldahl method (Kacar, 1972); while P, nitricpercloric acid mixture and vanadomolibdo phosphoric in the solution obtained by wetburning has been analyzed according to yellow color method (Kacar & Kovanci, 1982). EFFECT OF FERTILIZER ON CARNATION SEEDLING 3119 Table 1. Chemical analysis results and morphological specialities of carnation samples prior to the rooting period. Chemical and morphological properties Stored Non-stored N (%) 2.59 2.62 P(%) 0.35 0.33 K(%) 3.48 2.77 Ca(%) 2.00 1.81 Mg(%) 0.27 0.28 Na(%) 0.032 0.031 Fe (ppm) 101.10 102.3 Zn (ppm) 59.30 62.00 Cu (ppm) 10.95 11.10 Mn (ppm) 86.70 82.90 Seedling length (mm) 178.20 131.27 Stem diameter (mm) 3.97 3.16 Table 2. Chemical analysis results of fertilizer solution (mg/100 L). 2nd solution 3rd solution Chemical properties 1st solution NH4-N 18.80 1.80 1.80 NO3-N 56.60 51.90 33.60 P 3.99 3.99 3.99 + 23.00 34.50 50.00 K ++ 22.40 33.60 33.60 Ca ++ Mg 6.00 9.00 7.84 S 31.52 Fe 6.25 6.25 6.25 Mn 2.50 2.50 2.50 Zn 2.50 2.50 2.50 Cu 1.25 1.25 1.25 B 1.40 1.40 1.40 Mo 0.14 0.140 0.14 E.C (ms) 2.00 1.50 1.70 pH 5.53 5.18 5.76 Statistical analyses were performed on all data by using MINITAB 13.32 (Minitab Inc., PA, USA). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to evaluate the statistical difference of treatment means. The level of significance was set at p