Investigations on the morphological, biological characteristics and cultivation possibilities of Eremurus spectabilis (bieb. ) fedtsch., Prangos ferulacea (L.) lidl. and Hippomarathrum microcarpum bieb. as growing wildly

ABSTRACT Ph. D. Thesis INVESTIGATIONS ON THE MORPHOLOGICAL, BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND CULTIVATION POSSIBILITIES OF Eremurus spectabilis (BIEB.) FEDTSCH., Prangos ferulacea (L.) LINDL. AND Hippomarathrum. microcarpum (BIEB.) AS GROWING WILDLY Fatma GÜNGÖR Atatürk University Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Department of Horticultural Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Muharrem GÜLERYÜZ This study was carried out in the years between 1997-2000 in Erzincan Horticultural Research Institute in order to cultivate E. spectabilis, P. ferulacea, and H. microcarpum growing naturally at these locations and consumed by the people as natural. In the study, field and germination studies were made, and yield and yield components, chemical contents, and morphological and some biological characteristics of the plants were investigated. During field studies, the natural growing locations of the plants were determined. As the investigation locations Güngörmez, Yeşildere and îspir in Erzurum and Kızlarkalesi and Üzümlü in Erzincan were selected. Plant samples naturally growing at these locations were taken. In the sowings done with the seeds taken from these locations, the emergence times of seeds depending upon years and locations in Erzincan conditions were determined to be between 10 March and 12 April for E. spectabilis, between 16 March and 17 April for P. ferulacea, and between 23 March and 17 April for H. microcarpum. In the sowings done with 1 and 0 age seeds, the average emergence percentages of the plants were determined as 38.34 and 68.33 for E. spectabilis, 7.33 and 51.67 for P. ferulacea, and 4.01 and 35 for H. microcarpum, respectively. Also, E. spectabilis was produced vegetatively. In this production method, the average ratio of shoot emergence was found to be 88.7%. In seed germination experiments, the effects of some dormancy breaking applications on seed germination were investigated at 15 and 20°C germination temperatures. 15°C and 90 days stratification gave the highest percentage of germination (65.3% for E. spectabilis, 86.00% for P. ferulacea, and 72.5 for H. microcarpum) and 100 days stratification gave the highest mean germination time and velocity (4.34 days and 15.15, 4.72 days and 22.23, 5.10 days and 16.34 for E. spectabilis, P. ferulacea, and H. microcarpum, respectively). Morphological properties of the plants wildly-growing at these areas were determined and variation values were calculated. Mean plant height, root length, the number of roots, root diameter, leaf length, fruit length and width, seed length and width, and the weight of 1000 seeds of the plant species were determined. In yield component studies; mean shoot height, diameter, weight, shaft length and number of leaves of E. spectabilis were determined as yield components.0.38 kg/m2 average yield was obtained for E. spectabilis. For P. ferulacea and H. microcarpum mean shoot height, diameter, weight and percentage of shoot/plant were determined as yield components. Also chemical analyses of the plants were made, and nutritional values of the plants species were found high. In experiment field, free and self-pollination studies for E. spectabilis were performed. The plant was found to be a self-fertile species based on the research. 2002, 207 pages Keywords: Eremurus spectabilis, Prangos ferulacea, Hippomarathrum microcarpum, cultivation, vegetable ii