USING OF GROWTH STIMULATOR AUSMA IN STRAWBERRY PLANT PRODUCTION AUGŠANAS STIMULATORA AUSMA LIETOŠANA ZEMEĥU STĀDU AUDZĒŠANĀ

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1 USING OF GROWTH STIMULATOR AUSMA IN STRAWBERRY PLANT PRODUCTION AUGŠANAS STIMULATORA AUSMA LIETOŠANA ZEMEĥU STĀDU AUDZĒŠANĀ Laugale V., Lepse L. 1 and Daugavietis M. 2 1 Pūre Horticultural Research Station, LV-3124 Tukuma rajons, Latvia; 2 Biolat Ltd, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia. Kopsavilkums Augu augšanas stimulators Ausma tika pārbaudīts un gadā gadā to izmantoja tikai zemeħu rozešu apsakħošanas sākumā 0.2 % koncentrācija šėirnēm `Gerida`, `Jonsok` un `Annelise. Novērotas būtiskas atšėirības starp šėirnēm apsakħošanās izvērtējumā gadā divu šėirħu augi Kokinskaja PozdĦaja un Jonsok augi tika apstrādāti ar augšanas stimulatoru Ausma ik pēc 10 dienām 0.2 % koncentrācijā un abu šėirħu augi būtiski labāk apsakħojās gadā šis preparāts tika izsmidzināts arī uz zemeħu mātesaugiem (Mo paaudze), lai novērtētu preparāta ietekmi uz augu attīstību un stīgu veidošanos divām šėirnēm `Kokinskaja PozdĦaja` un `Zefyr`. Ausma būtiski palielināja lapu augšanu, stīgu veidošanos un attīstību tikai šėirnei `Kokinskaja PozdĦaja`. Abstract The plant growth stimulator Ausma was tested on strawberries for two growing seasons: in 2003 and In 2003 it was applied on strawberry plants at the beginning of rooting one time in 0.2 % concentration. Three different strawberry cultivars were used - `Gerida`, `Jonsok` and `Annelise`. In this year the growth stimulator did not significantly influence strawberry plantlet rooting and development, while there was significant difference between the cultivars. In 2004 growth stimulator Ausma was applied three times every 10 days in 0.2 % concentrations. Two strawberry cultivars were used - Pozdnaya` and `Jonsok`. Growth stimulators succeeded strawberry plantlet rooting and development for both cultivars. The growth stimulator Ausma was applied also on strawberry mother plants propagated in vitro (Mo generation) in 2004, to evaluate the influence on plant growth and runnering. Two strawberry cultivars were used - Pozdnaya` and `Zefyr`. Significantly different reactions to the growth stimulator were observed. Ausma did not influence plant development and runnering of cultivar `Zefyr`, while it significantly succeeded leaf growth, runnering and runner development for cultivar the Pozdnaya`. Key words: Fragaria x ananasssa Duch., growth stimulator, runnering, rooting, plant growth, cultivar. Introduction Due to the activities for the reduction of enviromental pollution and the increasing of human health status the interest on using of new natural products in plant growing is increasing. Investigations about chemical composition and using possibilities of pine and spruce needle water extracts were started in 1988 in the Latvian Forest Research Institute. The first investigations showed positive influence of the stimulator on the growth, flowering and productivity of different plants. The Latvian enterprise Biolat Ltd was worked out a natural plant growth stimulator Ausma. It is the coniferous needles' water extract, which contains a lot of different phenols, albumins, organic acids, carbohydrates, micro and macro elements, vitamins etc. Tests about needle extract activity on the camomile, carnation, sweet peas, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage and barley was made in the Institute of Biology and abroad (Webb, 2004 and Place, 2004). The use of extract showed stimulation activity on the development of buds, flowers and root system like phytohormones of cytokinins group. The testing of `Ausma` on strawberries was started at the Pūre Horticultural Research Station in 2003, to evaluate the influence of this product on plant development, runnering and rooting. Materials and Methods The plant growth stimulator Ausma was tested on strawberries for two growing seasons: in 2003 and 2004 in the Pūre Horticultural Research Station, Latvia. In 2003 the experiment was carried out from August 14 to September 15. Strawberry plantlets with the first root nodules visible and short 64

2 runner (about 1.0 cm) attached were cut from the mother plants of Mo generation. Runner plants were potted in plastic trays filled with peat and perlite mixture. The plant growth stimulator Ausma was applied on strawberry plants after potting one time in 0.2 % concentration by watering. Plants were grown in a plastic tunnel, regularly watered and sprayed by fungicide Euparen M (one time). Three different strawberry cultivars were used: `Gerida`, `Jonsok` and `Annelise`. The amount of rooted plants and leaves per plant were counted and root length, crown diameter, and total plant weight after rooting were measured. Each plant was considered as replication, in total 20 plants per variant were evaluated. Another experiment was carried out in The same type of runner plants and growing media were used. Ausma was applied three times every 10 days at the same concentration as in Two strawberry cultivars were used: Pozdnaya` and `Jonsok`. The amount of rooted plants and plant development (amount of leaves, root length, crown diameter, total plant weight before and after rooting) were evaluated. Each plant was considered as replication, in total 20 plants per variant were evaluated. In 2004, the growth stimulator Ausma was also applied on strawberry mother plants of Mo generation, which were grown in plastic tunnel. Two strawberry cultivars were used - Pozdnaya` and `Zefyr`. Plants were planted in May 19 in plastic boxes (14x17.5x78 cm) filled with peat and perlite mixture three plants per box. Boxes were placed in four rows on different height 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2 m. Growth stimulator Ausma was applied one time per month in 0.2 % concentration by watering (250 ml of solution per plant). Leave development and runnering was evaluated. Amount of runner plants suitable for rooting was counted. Each mother plant was considered as replication, in total 12 plants per variant were evaluated. The data of all experiments were subjected to Analysis of Variance (γ=0.05.). Results In the experiment of 2003, the amount of rooted plants after one month of potting varied from 100 to 90 % from total, depending on cultivar and treatment. The difference between treatments and cultivars was not significant. Though in total, the growth stimulator Ausma slightly succeeded the rooting of plants - in average 3 % more rooted plants than in control. Cultivar `Annelise` had the best rooting, where all plants were rooted in both of treatments, and cultivar `Gerida` - the lowest rooting (92.5 % of rooted plants from total). The growth stimulator did not influence significantly strawberry runner plant development during rooting, but there was significant difference between cultivars. Cultivar `Gerida` had significantly lower leaf amount and root length than cultivars `Annelise` and `Jonsok` (Table 1). Cultivar `Annelise` had significantly smaller crown diameter, than other cultivars. Cultivar `Jonsok` had the highest total plant weight, root weight and crown diameter. Table 1.Strawberry plant development after rooting in 2003 Treatment Cultivar Parameter Leaves, number per plant length, cm Total plant Crown diameter, mm `Ausma` Control LSD Gerida Jonsok Annelise LSD In the experiment of 2004, cultivar `Jonsok` had all plants rooted in both treatments. Cultivar Pozdnaya` had all plants rooted in the treatment with she growth stimulator Ausma, but in control - 95 % from total. The growth stimulator Ausma significantly succeeded the increasing of plant total weight, crown diameter and leaf number for both of tested cultivars (Table 2). 65

3 Growth stimulator also succeeded the root development, but not statistically significantly. The difference between cultivars in plant development was not significant. Table 2.Strawberry plant development after rooting in 2004 Treatment Cultivar Parameter Leaves, number per plant length, mm Total plant Crown diameter, mm Ausma Control LSD Kokinskaya Pozdnaya Jonsok LSD Significantly different reaction to the growth stimulator was observed between cultivars after applying of Ausma on mother plants. Ausma did not influence leaf amount for cultivar `Zefyr`, while it succeeded the leaf development for cultivar Pozdnaya` (Figure 1). number plant Date Pozdnaya` control Figure 1. Influence of growth stimulator Ausma on leave development of strawberry mother plants for two cultivars After three month of growth cultivar `Zefyr` had significantly higher leaf amount than cultivar Pozdnaya`. Runnering intensity at the beginning of summer (during intensive growth of mother plants) increased and at the end of summer decreased (Figure 2). Cultivar `Zefyr` had higher runnering intensity than cultivar Pozdnaya` at the beginning of summer. Later runnering intensity of the cultivar Pozdnaya` increased, especially in the treatment with growth stimulator Ausma. Ausma did not succeed the runnering intensity for cultivar `Zefyr`, but had positive effect on cultivar Pozdnaya`. 66

4 The difference between cultivars and treatments in total amount of runners was not significant. number plant-1 20,0 18,0 16,0 14,0 12,0 10,0 8,0 6,0 4,0 2,0 0, Date Pozdnaya` control Figure 2. Influence of growth stimulator Ausma on runnering intensity of strawberry mother plants for two cultivars Cultivar `Zefyr` produced significantly higher amount of runner plantlets suitable for rooting than Pozdnaya` (Figure 3). The highest amount of runner plantlets was obtained from cultivar `Zefyr` in the treatment without using of growth stimulator. Pozdnaya` had more runner plantlets in the treatment with growth stimulator than in control plantlet mother plant Pozdnaya` control In average with In average control Figure 3. The total amount of runner plantlets suitable for rooting gotten from mother plants γ 0.05 (cultivar) =3.74; γ 0.05 (treatment) =3.74; γ 0.05 (separate means) =5.29 In average of two cultivars significant difference in total amount of runner plantlets between using of growth stimulator and control was not stated. Discussion Studies conducted in many countries have confirmed a positive effect of growth regulators on plant growth, yield, fruit set and the quality of different crops (Bisen et al., 1991; Greenberg et al., 1992; Malaka and Bondok, 1997 and Phookan et al., 1991). There are several studies on strawberries also. Different plant biochemical regulators in trials in Norway positively affected plant vegetative growth and yield of different strawberry varieties grown in the field (Rohloff et al., 2002). Similar results were obtained by Thakur et al. (1991) and Masny et al. (2002). In our investigations natural 67

5 growth stimulator Ausma showed different results depending on the applying technique in trials with runner plantlet rooting. It significantly did not influence strawberry plantlet rooting and development when was applied after potting only one time. However it succeeded plant development and significantly increased plant total weight, crown diameter and leaf number, if it was applied every 10 days. Any negative effect of growth stimulator on plant externally was not observed. Cultivars showed different intensity of plant development, but did not show a significant difference in reaction to the growth stimulator. A significantly different reaction to the growth stimulator Ausma was observed between cultivars, when it was applied on mother plants of the Mo generation. The different reaction of strawberry cultivars to growth regulators is reported by Masny et al. (2002). In our trial applying of Ausma did not influence plant development and runnering for the cultivar `Zefyr` and even reduced the runnering intensity at the end of summer, while it significantly increased leaf growth and runnering for the cultivar Pozdnaya`. Mother plants of cultivar Pozdnaya` looked much healther in treatment with the use of growth the stimulator than in control. Conclusions The using of growth stimulator Ausma is perspective for strawberry plantlet producing and rooting. The application rate is one time every 10 days in 0.2 % concentration with watering is acceptable in strawberry plant rooting. More investigations are necessary on the application rate and the reaction of different cultivars in the use of Ausma for mother plants of Mo generation in runner plantlet production. Acknowledgements Described experiments were carried out by financial support from Biolat Ltd. References 1. Rohloff J., Hagen S.F. and Iversen T. (2002) The effect of plant biochemical regulators on strawberry production in field trials under drip irrigation management at 5 locations in Norway. Acta Horticulturae, 567, Webb R. (2004) The Ausma chronicals. In: Spring Bulletin, the National Sweet Pea Society, UK, Place I.D. (2004) Ausma sweet pea trials in Cumbria. In: Spring Bulletin, the National Sweet Pea Society, UK, Masny A., Zurawicz E. and Basak A. (2002) Super influence of ``Betoksan`` (BNOA) and other growth regulators on yield and quality in strawberry. Acta Horticulturae, 567, Bisen A.L., Saraf R.K. and Joshi G.C. (1991) Effect of growth regulators on growth and yield of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) cv. G.C.322. Orissa Journal of Horticulture, 19, Greenberg J., Hertzano Y., and Eshel G. (1992) Effects of 2,4-D, etefon, and NAA on fruit size and yield of Star Ruby red grapefruit. In: Proceedings of the International Society of Citriculture. 7-th International Citrus Congress, Acireale, Italy, 8-13 March, Malaka S.A. and Bondok M.A. (1997) Effect of some growth regulators on fruit thinning, yield, fruit quality and endogenous hormone levels in Balady mandarins. Annals of Agricultural Science Cairo, 42, Phookan D.B., Shadeque A. and Baruah P.J. (1991) Effect of plant growth regulators on yield and quality of tomato. Vegetable Science, 18, Thakur A.S., Jindal K.K. and Sud A. (1991) Effect of growth substances on vegetative growth, yield and quality parameters in strawberry. Indian Journal of Horticulture, 48,