Production of seedlings of essential oil rose variety ‘Lada’ depending on the scheme and age of the nursery plot

Abstract

Interest in essential oil production is reviving in Russia. Attention to essential oil rose as one of the main crops in essential oil production, therefore, grows too. Expensive planting material is one of the constraining factors in increasing the acreage of Rosa L. plantations. Green cutting is the most cost-effective method. However, it requires particular conditions for growing mother plants. The purpose of the research was to choose the optimal scheme of growing mother plants and determine the lifetime of the shrubs of essential oil rose variety ‘Lada’ to increase the yield of seedlings by rooting green cuttings. The studies were conducted between 2007 and 2015 at the trial fields of FSBSI “Research Institute of Agriculture of Crimea” located in the village of Krymskaya Rosa Belogorskiy district. Research material – essential oil rose variety ‘Lada.’ Climate of the study area – arid. The studies were carried out according to the methodology of field experiments on the technology of essential oil crops cultivation and guidelines for obtaining certified planting material. The nursery plot was laid in 2006. We studied two mother plant placement schemes (according to the feeding area) 0.50 × 0.15 m and 0.50 × 0.25 m. Field experiments were replicated four times. Accounting area – 17.5 m2. The maximum number of seedlings from 1m2 was obtained when mother plants were placed according to the scheme of 0.50 × 0.15 m. This scheme allowed obtaining 742 conditioned seedlings per one square meter for nine years of nursery plot exploitation or 7 to 136 young plants annually, depending on the age of the mother plants. The maximum number of green cuttings (283–296) per unit area was harvested for the eighth or ninth year of the nursery plot exploitation. The maximum number of seedlings (136) was obtained for the 8th year of nursery plot operation. The rooting rate of green cuttings harvested in the first year is not high – only 23 %. In the next five years, 50 to 65 % of green cuttings can root. From the 7th year of nursery plot operation, there is a decrease in the possibility to root (to 35–48 %).