ADVANCES IN PRODUCTION

TECHNOLOGY OF LILIUM
 Introduction

◼ Lily is one of the most important ornamental bulbous plants

◼ Native : Northern hemisphere

◼ Lilies symbolize purity and innocence & complete life

◼ Used as cut flowers, potted plants and in beds or borders

◼ Asiatic and oriental lilies are leading cut flower group in the
international market

◼ Lilies are dominated in markets of Netherlands

 Scientific Classification

• Scientific Classification: Lilium sp

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Phylum: Anthophyta
• Order: Liliales
• Family: Liliaceae
• Subfamily: Lilioideae
• Genus: Lilium
•
Botanical description
• Has about 400 species, Among them about 100 sp are described

• Herbaceous perennial, bulbiferous plant

• Bulbs have many imbricate, fleshy scales without tunic

• Stem is erect and leafy

• Inflorescence terminal, a raceme or solitary flower

• Flowers are funnel form or campanulate

• Tepals 6, usually connivent

• Stamens 6, filaments subulate or filiform

• Ovary 3 loculed, many ovules per locule

• Style elongate, slender and stigma swollen

• Fruit loculicidal capsule

Floral parts
 Types of Liliums

• Asiatic lilies

• Oriental lilies

• Tiger lilies

• Trumpet lilies

• Turk cap lilies

The five main groups of hybrid lilies are
❖Asiatic
❖Oriental
❖OT (The cross between Oriental and Trumpet lilies)
❖LO (The cross between L. longiflorum and Oriental lily)
❖LA hybrids (The cross between L. longiflorum and Asiatic lily)
 Longiflorum hybrids

◼ Derived form popular L.longiflorum (Easter lily)

◼ Produce aromatic, white, trumpet-shaped flowers

◼ Grow about 90cm high

◼ Bloom in mid summer

◼ Can be forced to bloom indoors for Easter

 Asiatic hybrids

◼ Derived from species originated in Asia

◼ Bloom early summer
◼ Flowering for over a month
◼ 10-15cm blooms face up, out or down
◼ Comes in shades of red, orange, yellow, pink, lavender and
white
◼ Plants grows to height from 30-150cm
◼ Suitable for growing in containers
◼ Quite disease resistant
 Oriental hybrids

◼ Derived from L.auratum & L.speciosum

◼ Plant height from 60-240cm
◼ Produce huge flowers up to 10cm across
◼ Flowers in late summer
◼ Flowers are pleasantly scented
◼ Flowers are bowl shaped with recurving petals
◼ Come in white, pink, deep red and bicolours
◼ Suitable for growing in containers
◼ Need staking because of their size
LA Hybrids - Longiflorum lilies (L) and Asiatic hybrids (A)

❑Introduced in 1992

❑Brightly-colored trumpet type lilies

❑Great strength and long vase life

❑Varieties : Salmon classic, Pavia, Royal Fantasy, Royal

Trinity, Red planet, Best sellar, Indian Diamond.

❑Bulb size 12-20 cm

 Classification

LA hybrids

L. longiflorum
Asiatic Hybrid lily ×
Asiatic lily
L. amabile, Easter lily
L. bulbiferum, Oriental hybrid lily
L. cernuum, L. longiflorum
L. concolor, L. auratum,
L. davidii, L. japonicum,
L. x hollandicum, L. rubellum
L. lancifolium, L. Speciosum
L. leichtlinii,
L. x maculatum and
L. pumilum Source: Ki-Byung Lim1 & Jaap M. Van Tuyl2
Affiliation 1National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (NIAB), RDA,
Suwon, 441-707
Korea; 2BU Biodiversity and Breeding, Plant Research International,
Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands
 In commercial cut flower growing there are three main types
of lilies, with following characterization

Asiatic Oriental Longiflorum

(Bulb size 10-16 cm) (Bulb size 16-22 cm ) (Bulb size 14-22 cm)
Plants small with saucer- plants large with saucer- Plants large with trumpet
shaped flowers . shaped flowers shaped flowers
Flowers in70 to 90 days Flowers 100 to 130 days Flowers in 100 to 120 days
Popular varieties Popular varieties Popular varieties
Alaska, Pulsar(white) Dream, Casa Blanca(white) White Europe
Nerone (red ) Primeur(white) Snow Queen
Menton (orange) Stargazer(red) Insulate Hort
London, Parma (yellow) Nigata, Agapulco (pink) Eximium Baker
Dreamland (white) Navona Dreamland(yellow),
(white) Connecticut King Siberia
Brunello (Orange)
 Top ten varieties

Variety Colour Type

Star Gazer Red white Oriental
Snow Queen White Longiflorum
Pollyanna Yellow Asiatic
Vivaldi Pink Asiatic
Casa Blanca White Oriental
Elite Orange Asiatic
Acapulco White Oriental
Marco Polo White / pink Oriental
Le Reve Pink Oriental
Montreux Pink Asiatic
 Asiatic Hybrid Lilies

Connecticut King
(A) Pollyana
(A)

Source: www.royalvanzanten.com
Asiatic Hybrid Lilies

Vivaldi
(A)

Source: www.royalvanzanten.com
Oriental Hybrid Lilies
Star Gazer
(0)

Acapulco
(0)

Source: www.royalvanzanten.com
 Oriental Hybrid Lilies

Casa Blanc
(0)

Source: www.royalvanzanten.com
www.vws-flowerbulbs.com
 Temperature
o
Day - 20-25 C
o
Night - 10-15 C

Humidity( %)

80-85
Environmental
factors

Light
2
Intensity(Joules/cm )
190
 Shading net

• Reduces temperature & avoids leaf scorching on plants

• Movable shading net is ideal for opening/closing

• 50% agro white shade net is cheaper

• Side ventilation in combination with top ventilation is

necessary to keep the natural airstreams flowing
 Soil

• Prefers sandy loam soil

• Needs good soil structure particularly top layers & should have
proper drainage during the entire growing period

• Asiatic lilies prefers pH- 6.0 - 6.5

• Oriental hybrids prefers little acidic soil – pH – 5.5 - 6.5

• Excess salt concentrations in soil have inhibitory effect on water

absorption through roots

• Chlorine in soil should not exceed 1.5 m mol/lit

• EC between 1.0 and 1.5 ms/cm

Bed composition
• Red soil: 60%
• FYM: 30%
• Sand: 10%
• Rice husk: As per requirement
Coco peat
• Coco peat requirement- 19 kg/m2
 Propagation

• Seeds

• Scales

• Bulb lets

• Bulbils

• Micro propagation has also used

Bulb propagation commercially followed

Seeds
• It is an easy and cheap method.
• Seeds sown in pots and covered with leaf mould.
Disadvantage
• New plant could take one to five years to reach
flowering.
Bulb lets
• Commonly propagated by divisions and bulb lets.
• Bulb forms suckers at base of the stems, just above the
mother bulb.
• It can be planted directly in the beds.
• Large bulbs - after one year to produce flower.
• Smaller bulbs- after two year to produce flower.
Bulbils
• After flowering, some sp of Lilium especially
• L.Loncifolilum produce black bulbils
• Farmed in the axils of leaves
• These bulbils taken from late summer and immediately
sown in the beds
• 3 to 4 years after flowering
Scales
• These are a most common method of multiplication
especially in the varieties that do not produce bulbils
• Treated with NAA and IBA for increasing rooting
Propagation
 Flower forcing

◼ Storage of bulbs @ 4.40C for 6 weeks ideal for early emergence and
produce taller plants

◼ Bulbs stored at 7.2-100C in moist peat for 5-6 weeks produce early
flowering

◼ Bulb vernalization and photoperiod treatments lead to rapid flowering

through two induced mechanism, the phytochrome and high energy
reaction systems
 Lilium producing companies in Netherlands

• Broersen & Hopman BV

• Van den Bos BV

• VWS-flowerbulbs

• PaauwLilies

• Mondial Lelies BV

• Sandegroup BV

• Hoffqualityfirst

• Vletter & den Haan BV

• World breeding BV etc…

Import bulb before planting Storage
 BED PREPERATION

Height
25 cm

1m
width

Length depending upon the GH type

 Planting

• 20 X 15 cm and 10 X 15 cm
• It should be depends on bulb size
• Bulbs can be planted at 6-8 cm depth in winter and 8-
10 cm depth in summer.
 Planting Density
Bulb size Bulbs/m2 Planting
distance (cm)
8-10 cm 49 15 X 15
10-12 cm 42 16 X 15
12-14 cm 36 16 X 18
14-16 cm 36 16 X 18
Planting density depends on bulb size
 Irrigation layout

Dripper

Bulb

Water requirement in summer – 6 – 8 lit/m2 /day

Water requirement in winter – 4-5 lit/m2 /day
 Fertigation (Farmers practice)

• Lilium is a very salt sensitive crop.

• Especially in the first three weeks the rooting takes place, no additional

fertilizers are required.

• 12:61:00 (MAP) - 2kg/100 m2 - one week before planting to get good root

development

• 3 weeks after planting - Calcium Nitrate @ 1 kg / 100 m2

• 6 weeks after planting - Potassium nitrate @ 1 kg/100 m2

• Top dressing of Ammonium nitrate @ 1kg/100 m2 given during N deficiency

 Mother’s choice

GROWTH STAGE RDF(N : P : K : Ca : Mg) Duration (days)

g/m²
1.Establishment Water alone 0-20

2.Vegetative 22.8 : 1.1 : 9.2 : 20.5 : 6.6 21-50

3.Bud development 7 : 0.63 : 4.6 : 12.3 : 2.2 51-70

4.Flowering 4.8 : 0.47 : 9.2 : 8.2 : 2.2 71-95

5.Harvesting stage Water alone 96-105

Pollyanna
GROWTH STAGE RDF(N : P : K : Ca : Mg) Duration (days)
g/m²
1.Establishment Water alone 0-20
2.Vegetative 11 : 0.65 : 3.9: 7.2 : 2.68 21-40
3.Bud development 6.6 : 0.39 : 5.2 : 9.6 : 2.01 41-50
4.Flowering 4.4 : 0.26 : 3.9 : 7.2 : 2.01 51-70
5.Harvesting stage Water alone 71-85

A.KIRUBAKARAN et al, 2011

 Diseases Pest

◼ Foot rot
◼ Aphids
◼ Fusarium scale rot
◼ Fuller rose beetle
◼ Botrytis blight
◼ Stalk borer
◼ Bacterial
◼ Thrips
◼ Soft rot
◼ Bub mite
Viral
◼ Tulip breaking virus
◼ Cucumber mosaic virus
 Botrytis blight
Symptoms
•Small, dark brown spots on foliage
•Infected tissue gradually dies off
•Raised area on buds, bud rotting, deformed
development on opened flower grey, watery, round spots
Control
•Keep crop dry by adjusting plant density
•Irrigation in morning.
•Alternate spraying captaf @ 2gm+Bavistin @ 2gm/lit or
Bavistin @ 2gm + Dithane M 45 @ 2gm/lit
 Fusarium scale rot
Symptoms
•Underground brown spots on top and side of bulb.
•Later on start to rot.
• Retarded growth.
•Pale foliage.
Control
•Soil disinfection.
•Maintain lowest possible soil and greenhouse temp.
•Remove infected scales.
 Foot rot
Symptoms
➢ Attacks the stem at the soil level causing wilting and death of
the plants

Control measure
❑ Spraying with benomyl (benlate) 0.1% , Chlorothalonil
(kavach) 1.5 gm/ lit of water
 Lily Beetle

Damage
•Feed on leaves, stems, buds and flowers.
Control
•Spray Thiodicarb 70 WP @ 400 g/acre.
•Spray Sevin 0.2% is effective control measure
 Aphid
Symptoms
• It attack the crop causing deformation of leaves.
• Green spots on young buds; flower could be deformed and
remain partially green.
Control
• Weed control.
• Spray with chloropyriphos @ 2ml/lit or Acephate @ 1ml/lit.
 Thrips

Symptoms
• They produce brown sunken areas at the base of outer scale,
which become brittle
• Plants shows stunted growth
Control
• Spraying Endosulfon 0.05%
 Borer
• Caterpillars are brown with a white dorsal stripe, primarily
living inside the stalks or twigs of host plants.

Control
▪ Spraying of Endosolfon (Thiodan, Thionex) @ 0.05%
 Viral
Symptoms

• Viral infection include foliar mosaic (bright to faint yellow

mottling and streaking), rings (dark or yellow)

• Abnormal flower size, color-break , stunting of random plants,

and distorted leaves
 Physiological disorders

Bud blasting and abscission

◼ Characterized by weathering and bleaching of flower bud, followed by
necrosis and bud drop

◼ Occurs when bud is about 1.2-2.5cm in length

◼ It is associated with low light intensity and short photoperiods

◼ Also occurs in late spring and early summer due to high temperature

◼ Factors: shortage of water at top of plant, competition of limited

nutrients and high level of soil nitrate i.e >50ppm

◼ Eliminated by artificial lighting about 450 watts/m2 one month

before flowering
Leaf scorch
❖ Also known as leaf burn and tip burn
❖ A period of bright sunlight after prolonged dull weather can
cause this
❖ Noticed particularly at critical visible bud stage and will produce
white bands across the leaves that eventually become necrotic
❖ Necrotic tissue serve as starting point for disease development,
such as botrytis if not properly treated
❖ Foliar application of 1% CaCl2 just before visibility of buds
reduces
❖ Leaf scorch may be induced by high fluoride level in soil, water
or air
 Harvesting & Packaging

➢ Harvest the lilies at the cutting stage, i.e. 8 to 10 cm above the ground when
lower first bud shows the colour of flower.

➢ After harvesting, stems are graded according to number of flower buds per stem,
length and firmness of stem.

➢ During bunching, remove 10 cm of foliage from the end of the stems and
subsequently sleeve the flowers.

➢ Immediately after bunching, the cut flowers should be placed in cold water in
cold storage room at 2ºC to 3ºC. Add 2% sucrose and 100ppm GA3 as a
preservative agent to water to improve vase life of flower.

➢ When dispatching lily flowers use only perforated boxes to maintain a proper
temperature during transport
 Post Harvest treatment of bulbs

❖ Reduce the frequency of irrigation water. Excessive moisture may lead

to rotting of bulbs.
❖ Allow bulbs to remain in the beds for 4 to 5 weeks (above ground stem
portion should dry out and can be pulled out from bulb easily).
❖ After 5 weeks remove the bulbs from soil along with dried stem.
❖ Remove dried stem carefully without damaging the bulb.
❖ Wash bulbs with clean water and treat with 2% Bavistin solution for 10
minutes.
❖ Immediately after air drying pack the bulbs in plastic crates with moist
coco peat wrapped with perforated plastic sleeves.
Post Harvest

Pulsing : 0.5-1.0% silver thiosulphate.

Holding solution: 200 ppm - 8-HQC + 3% sucrose
Stored in cold storage @ 2 o C to 3 o C

Vase life
• Asiatics : 7 – 14 days

• Orientals : 10 – 15 days

• Longiflorum : 8 – 10 days
 REFERENCE
• Advanced Commercial Floriculture
S.K. Bhattacharjee
• Floriculture from Greenhouse Production to floral
Design Ronald J. Biondo,
Dianne A. Noland
• Commercial Flowers
T.K. Bose et al
• Lilium Manual.
• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-lilies.html
• http://www.ihbt.res.in/liliumpg.htm
Thank u