• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.579-584
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• 2001

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of soil moisture content on cut flower quality of Gypsophila paniculata L. 'Bristol Fairy' in spring and autumn cultivations. The soil moisture potential (SMP) set point for irrigation was either -3.2 or -10.0kPa in the vegetative growth stage, and -10.0, -31.6, or -79.4kPa after the budding stage. When soil moisture reached at each set SMP point, 10 mm water was drip-irrigated. Tendency of flowering was earlier as SMP set point was lower in both vegetative growth and after budding stages. No other flower characteristics were found among other treatments. In both spring and autumn cultivations, as SMP set point was lower, the low primary branch length and upper internode length were decreased, the stem firmness was increased, and curvature of cut flower stem was decreased. Especially, in autumn, the higher the SMP set point, the higher the low primary branch than the apex, thus the paniculate inflorescence was deeply destroyed. Yield in spring cultivation was not significantly different among treatments, while that in autumn cultivation increased as the lower the SMP value. It is thought that optimal imgation points during vegetative growth and after budding stages to produce high quality cut flowers are -10.0 and -79.4kPa, respectively.