FEATURES OF GROWING ALSTROMERIA HYBRID FOR CUTTING IN CONDITIONS OF PROTECTED SOIL

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of the biological features of growing alstroemeria hybrid on a cut in protected soil. It was established that the height of the shoots and leafiness of the plants on the experimental variants was greater than on the control. The average height of the plants on the peat substrate during the growing season reached 170 cm (individual shoots sometimes exceeded the 2-meter mark), on the coconut substrate it was 160 cm, and on the soil mixture (control) – 150 cm. The number of leaves on one alstroemeria shoot per in the variant using coconut substrate was within 30–70 pcs., peat – 28–73 pcs. and soil mixtures – 20–60 pcs. The flowering period of alstroemeria grown on peat and coconut substrates was 7 months in 2021, 6 months in 2022, and 8 months in 2023. When grown on a soil mixture, the duration of flowering in 2021 was 7 months, in 2022 – 5, and in 2023 – 7 months. When grown on soil, the average number of flowers in an inflorescence was 5, and the diameter of each flower was 3 cm. The test variants of inflorescences had the following quality indicators: on a peat substrate – 10 flowers in an inflorescence, each 4.5 cm in diameter, on a coconut substrate – 7 flowers of 4 cm each. In addition, the promising varieties ‘Magic white’ and ‘Sunshine’ were noted. Inflorescences of plants of the ‘Magic white’ variety had the best quality indicators throughout the experiment. On average, the diameter of flowers reached 4.5 cm, and their number in an inflorescence was 9 pcs. In the ‘Sunshine’ variety, these indicators were lower: the diameter of the flowers was equal to 3.5 cm, and the number of flowers in the inflorescence was 8 pcs. The flowers of the ‘Valentino’ variety had even smaller sizes – 3.0 cm and 5 pcs. in accordance. The increase in the number of inflorescences had the following features: in the first year of planting, their number in the ‘Magic white’ variety was 75, in the second and third years of cultivation, an increase in the growth of flower stalks was observed. Thus, in 2022, their number was 102 units/m2 per year, and in 2023 – 198 units/m2 per year. A similar trend was observed in the varieties ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Valentino’. It was established that the thickening of plantings up to 6 plants per 1 m2 did not affect the quality indicators of flower production. However, the yield of plants according to the variants had the following dependence: increasing the density of alstroemeria from two to four plants increased the productivity of plants in the first year of cultivation from 30 to 61, in the second year – from 68 to 94, and in the third year – from 138 to 215 inflorescences from 1 m2. More dense plantings of alstroemeria (5 plants per 1 m2, and especially 6 plants) led to a decrease in crop yield. So, the optimal planting density of alstroemeria of the hybrid variety ‘Sunshine’ is the placement of 4 plants per 1 m2. At the same time, the yield of inflorescences can be increased to 200 pieces from 1 m2 per year.