Research On The Introduction Of New Varieties Of Cut Peony And Integrated Cultivation Techniques

Paeonia lactiflora has a long history of cultivation as a traditional flower in China.In recent years,there has been a large demand for cut peony in foreign cut flower markets,however,our cut peony varieties are not yet able to meet market demand and cultivation and production techniques are not yet perfect.Therefore,this experiment was conducted by introducing three new foreign outstanding cut peony varieties such as ‘Kansas’,‘Coral Charm’,and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ to evaluate their biological characteristics and post-harvest The evaluation of the biological characteristics and post-harvest quality of these new varieties was carried out.The three new peony varieties were also treated with different plant spacing and number of fertilizer applications to study the changes in nutrient elements,photosynthetic capacity,enzyme activity and physiological and biochemical indicators such as petal colour index and total anthocyanins of leaves at different developmental periods,with a view to providing technical support for enriching the varieties of cut peony and perfecting the open field cultivation production of cut peony in China.The main results of this study are as follows:（1）Analysis of the introduction potential of new cut peony varietiesA cut peony rating model was constructed and 17 trait indicators,including maximum flower diameter,bud shape,flower colour,vase life,bud colour,petal texture,compound leaf type,leaf ornamental,petal shape,flower type,flowering branch length,pedicel length,pedicel thickness,erectness,branching force,budding force,flower fragrance and growth potential of the three new varieties of cut peony were scored using hierarchical analysis and the weight of each indicator was determined.The results showed that all three new cut peony varieties had a combined score of more than 4.18 and were recommended for introduction into cultivation.（2）The effect of different plant spacing on the growth and development of cut peony Different plant spacing has different effects on the growth and development status of different varieties of cut peony.The optimum plant spacing for ‘Kansas’,‘Coral Charm’,and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peonies was found to be 0.8 m,1.0 m and 1.0 m respectively.The best plant height,leaf length,leaf width,stem thickness and other morphological qualities of cut peony were achieved with the highest number of flower heads,higher content of total soluble sugars,sucrose,soluble protein,N,K and P elements,antioxidant enzyme activity,content of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a,chlorophyll b and carotenoids,net photosynthetic rate,maximum photochemical efficiency,expression of photosynthesis-related genes PLRBCS and PLrbcl,higher intercellular The expression of CO₂ concentration and MDA content were lower.The results of comparing the flower colour of cut peonies between different plant spacing treatments showed that the a^*,b^*,C^* values and total anthocyanin content at all flowering stages were higher in ‘Kansas’ peony than in the other plant spacing treatments at 0.8 m.‘Coral Charm’,and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peony had higher a^*,C^*values and total anthocyanin content at 1.0 m plant spacing.（3）The effect of different fertilizer application times on the growth and development of cut peonyThe effect of different fertilizer application times on the growth and development status of different varieties of cut peony varied.The optimum number of fertiliser applications was found to be 4,5 and 5 for ‘Kansas’,‘Coral Charm’,and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peonies respectively.The best annual fertiliser application times resulted in the best morphological quality of peony in terms of plant height,leaf length and leaf width,and the highest number of flower heads,relatively high content of total soluble sugars,sucrose,soluble protein,N,K and P elements,antioxidant enzyme activity,photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a,chlorophyll b and carotenoids,net photosynthetic rate,maximum photochemical efficiency,expression of photosynthesis-related genes PLRBCS and PLrbcl The expression of chlorophyll b and other carotenoids,net photosynthetic rate,maximum photochemical efficiency,photosynthesis-related genes PLRBCS and PLrbcl were relatively high and MDA content was low.The results of comparing the flower colour of cut peony between treatments of different fertilizer application times showed that the petals of ‘Kansas’ peony had the highest a^*,b^*,C^*,h values and total anthocyanin content under four fertilizer treatments;under five fertilizer treatments,‘Coral Charm’,and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’peony had the lowest L^* and relatively high a^*,C^*,h values and total anthocyanin content.（4）Changes in physiological and biochemical indicators of peony growth and developmentThe results of this study found that the pattern of the different developmental stages of the three cut peony varieties between March and July was more or less the same,with photosynthetic pigments,soluble sugars,soluble proteins,net photosynthetic rate and maximum photochemical efficiency all increasing and then decreasing with the growth period of peony,and then increasing during the nutritional growth period.In contrast,the content of MDA in peony leaves increases with the growth period.Cut peony flower colour also showed a consistent pattern with flowering period,with L^* values consistently increasing for both ‘Kansas’ and ‘Coral Charm’,and decreasing then increasing for ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ The total anthocyanin content was the opposite of L^*,and the correlation analysis also showed a negative correlation between L^* and total anthocyanin.In conclusion,this study evaluated the foreign varieties of ‘Kansas’,‘Coral Charm’and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ cut peonies by AHP hierarchical analysis and identified them as exceptional varieties that can be introduced to the world.The present study further investigated these three cut peony varieties.In this study,the three peony varieties were further treated with different plant spacing and fertiliser application frequency,and the best plant spacing for ‘Kansas’,‘Coral Charm’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peonies were The optimum planting spacing was 0.8 m,1.0 m and 1.0 m for ’Red Fuji’,’Coral Charm’ and ’Sarah Bernhardt’ peonies respectively,and the optimum number of fertiliser applications per year was 4,5 and 5 respectively.Accordingly,this study proves that ‘Kansas’,‘Coral Charm’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ can be introduced as excellent cut peony varieties and perfects the three foreign cut flower peony varieties for This study demonstrates that ‘Kansas’,‘Coral Charm’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ can be introduced as excellent cut-flower peony varieties and improves the production technology of these three foreign cut-flower peony varieties in open field cultivation.