Bulb Induction on Madonna Lily Stems and Three Years Growing Performance of the Bulblets

Abstract

Currenly, Madonna lily (Lilium candidum L.) is considered as one of the most important ornamental and perfumery plants. Madonna lily is currently propagated via seed or bulb scales. However, seed derived plants reaches sexual maturity at the end of five years and flower production is interrupted in vegetative propagation via bulb scales because fertile bulbs are needed as source of scale. To overcome the two obstacles, stems of mature plants were used as material for bulb production in the current study. For this purpose, the stems, obtained from plants at the end of flowering were stored in cardboard boxes under the conditions of darkness, normal temperature and pressure (20°C and 1 atm) during four months. At the end of this period, it was observed that 14 bulbs per stem formed on the stored stems. The stem derived bulbs were cultivated in pots and were observed to determine their development performances and some morphological characters until reaching flowering during three years. An increase of 226% in bulb weight, 51.2% in bulb diameter and 58.9% in bulb circumference were observed at the end of the three years. In this study, a new and effective method for Madonna lily propagation was described for the first time.