TULIP RESPONSE TO DIFFERENT LIGHT SOURCES

Tulip (Tulipa gesneriana L.) is one of the famous potting and valuable cutting flower in floriculture industry as an ornamental plant. Stem elongation, flower quality and flowering time are the important characteristics in tulip flowers. On the other hand, light plays a significant role in the plant growth and flowering in the flowering plants. Therefore, the current study was conducted in a complete randomized design to investigate the effectiveness of using various light colors on the sprouting, morphological, biochemical and flower quality of tulip cv. ‘Prinses Catharina-Amalia’. The light treatments included white, blue, red light and dark conditions. The results indicated that days to sprouting and flowering reduced by all light treatments especially at blue light (9.9 and 10.7%, respectively) compared to dark conditions. Moreover, in light treatments, sugar compounds and biomass of tulip plants was better in comparison to dark conditions. According to our results, tulip plants possessed a higher plant yield under blue, red, and white light treatments than dark conditions, especially under blue light. In total, as light can alter morphological, biochemical and the flowering traits of plant, it is suggested to use the changing of light qualities instead of using hormone for various purposes such as cut flowers or pot plants.