Far-red Light Supplemented with Weak Red Light Promotes Flowering of Gypsophila paniculata

Abstract

A low red (R): far-red (FR) ratio is known to promote flowering of Arabidopsis and several long-day cut flowers, whereas not much information is available on the effects of single light qualities and their combinations on flowering. Therefore, the effects of light quality on the flowering of Gypsophila paniculata were investigated using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) emitting the following lights: FR, R, and blue (B). Flowering and flower budding were observed under long-day conditions with FR, while no flowering was observed under short-day conditions. Promotion of flowering and flower budding was increased under FR supplemented with R compared to FR alone. Although generally R inhibits flowering in long-day plants, a certain intensity of R, for example, the R:FR ratio between 0.23 and 0.71, may be necessary for effective promotion of flowering. In contrast, B supplementation of FR was not effective at the ratio in this study in inducing flowering and flower budding. The quality of cut flowers produced under long-day conditions with LEDs that promoted flowering was not lower than that under incandescent lamps. These results will provide basic knowledge for the development of LED bulbs as a replacement for incandescent bulbs.

Characterization of Flowering-related Genes and Flowering Response in Relation to Blue Light in <i>Gypsophila paniculata</i>

“…paniculata 'Million Star' (Sumika Agrotech, Osaka, Japan) and 'Bristol Fairy' (Japan Agribio Company, Tokyo, Japan) were grown under short-day conditions with an 8-h photoperiod for approximately 4 weeks. Thereafter, 16-h light treatment was started following the method of Nishidate et al (2012). Three lateral shoots of 'Million Star' plants with approximately 10 leaves were grown in a growth chamber at 22/18°C under natural light from 9:00 to 17:00 and under far-red or blue LEDs from 17:00 to 9:00 for observation of flowering, expression analysis of GpFT and GpSOC1, and sequencing of GpFKF1 and GpGI cDNAs.…”

“…For example, a low red:far-red ratio maintained using films that change light quality in daytime and redor far-red-rich fluorescent lamps at night promote flowering in Matthiola incana (Yoshimura et al, 2002(Yoshimura et al, , 2006, and low and high red:far-red ratios promote and retard flowering under long-day conditions in Eustoma grandiflorum (Sato et al, 2009;Yamada et al, 2008aYamada et al, , b, 2009). Far-red alone and a low red:far-red ratio promote flowering under long-day conditions with LEDs in Gypsophila paniculata (Nishidate et al, 2012), and a low red:far-red ratio also promotes flowering in Campanula carpatica (Kristinsen, 1988). However, there are few studies on the flowering response to blue light in long-day cut flowers.…”

“…We used Baby's Breath (G. paniculata) in this study because it is often used in flower arrangements and is an important long-day cut flower (Kikuchi et al, 2000;Shillo and Halevy, 1982). G. paniculata is grown by lighting culture for yearround production and shows a clear flowering response to long-day treatment as a qualitative long-day plant (Hori et al, 2011;Nishidate et al, 2012). In a previous study (Hori et al, 2011), flowering and the expression of the G. paniculata homologs of the FT and SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 genes (GpFT, GpSOC1) were not promoted in G. paniculata 'Bristol Fairy' under long-day conditions with blue light.…”

Effects of Seasonal Variation and Gibberellic Acid Treatment on the Growth and Development of Gypsophila paniculata

“…The flowering behavior of Gypsophila paniculata is strongly influenced by growth conditions, mainly daylength and temperature (Thakur et al, 2013). It has been reported that plants will stay in the vegetative growth stage and form a rosette under short daylighting and lower temperatures (Nishidate et al, 2012). The formation of the rosette significantly affects the flower production of Gypsophila paniculata because these rosette plants cannot bloom.…”

Flowering, Stem Extension Growth, and Cutting Yield of Foliage Annuals in Response to Photoperiod

“…In LD plants, FR-deficient environments often delay flowering (Kim et al, 2000;van Haeringen et al, 1998), but providing photoperiodic lighting with only FR is not consistently effective at promoting flowering (Craig and Runkle, 2016;Nishidate et al, 2012). Therefore, a combination of R and FR radiation can be used for photoperiodic control of LD plants.…”