THE POSTHARVEST QUALITY OF CHRYSANTHEMUM AND MINERAL NUTRITION EFFECT

In Romania, analysis of plant disease samples received from the local landscape industry and homeowners reveals that environmental stresses and nutrition practices are the primary causes of plant failure in the landscape. Chrysanthemum var. is the most important traditional flower crop in Targoviste, Romania. The region is famous for its “Chrysanthemum festival” organised every autumn. The overall objective of this research is to evaluate and identify nutrient management practices that improve fertilizer use efficiency, minimize their environmental impact on ornamental plants. The scientific objectives are: A) To evaluate the nutrient requirements and nutritional status (particularly nitrogen, potassium and phosforus) of some Chrysanthemum var. plants and the impact of these at resistance at diseases, B) to determine resistance to diseases and the productivity of stock plants of Chrysanthemum that were fertilized with increasing concentrations of N and K, along with evaluating cutting stem, length and leaf area and C) to generate visual symptoms of nutrient deficiencies in the chronological order in which they appear from incipient to advanced stages. Establish foliar analysis standards by correlating nutrient levels with initial and advanced stages of deficiencies for N, P, K. There are only few studies on the effect of different rates of nitrogen fertilization upon the morphological characteristics of poly-stem formatted chrysanthemum plants. There is not much information about the physiological response of those plants to different nitrogen nutrition and the impact of that on resistance to diseases.