SUNDAY 3RD APRIL, 2016 – UWI TODAY
11
RESEARCH
At its peak, anthurium production
was a profitable industry,
but recently it has been in decline. A lack of organization and
strategic planning and information for farmers, has contributed
to this decline. Many of the factors influencing the flower trade
are external to Trinidad and Tobago, but some are related to
the anthurium blooms themselves, such as poor adaptability,
susceptibility to diseases and nematodes, lack of novelty, and short
vase-life of showy varieties.
This is where The UWI anthurium group finds its niche. The
goal of the group is to provide research and development, education
and training support, towards the development of a well-organized,
globally competitive Caribbean anthurium industry.
Research has been carried out onmany of the issues affecting
the regional anthurium industry, including disease resistance,
nematode infestations, spathe colour and vase life.
Disease Resistance
The anthurium industry has been battling with bacterial blight
disease (
Xanthomonas campestris
pv.
dieffenbachiae).
Symptoms of
the disease include water-soaked leaf spots with a dark centre and
yellow halo, chlorosis of the leaf and yellowing of older leaves and
petioles. This causes the infected leaf or flower to lose its peduncle,
revealing dark brown streaks at the breakage point. Measures of
chemical and physical control are expensive, whereas developing
resistant varieties is a more sustainable approach. But the genetics
of resistance must be understood and suitable screening methods
should be implemented. Studies on optimizing screening methods
have been conducted over the last ten years and disease-resistant
varieties were developed.The screeningmethod for bacterial blight
resistance has now been patented by Dr. Winston Elibox and Prof.
Pathmanathan Umaharan at The UWI.
Nematode infestation
Nematodes or roundworms are tiny multicellular organisms
and are adapted to almost all environments. There are thousands
of species; several of which are parasitic. Burrowing nematodes
cause major problems in several crops.
“The nematode species that we get here in Trinidad can result
BringingAnthuriums Back to Life
Researchers may harvest a blooming industry
B Y S A R A H E V E L Y N
in low productivity in anthuriums,” says postgraduate student,
Nadine Ali. Older roots are affected by root rot and become
brown or black. The older roots are mostly affected; however the
functionality of the new roots is reduced until there are fewer new
roots, and the eventual death of the root system. This leads to the
classic symptoms of nutrient deficiencies such as yellowing of leaves
and smaller plants producing fewer blooms. Again, chemical and
physical controls are expensive and tedious to apply.Thus, “genetic
resistance may be the key to dealing with the issue of nematodes.
This would involve the development of new breeding strategies
and nematode-resistant varieties,” says Ms. Ali.
Research Symposium
The Depar tment of Life Sciences, in
collaboration with other Departments of the
Faculty of Science and Technology, will be
hosting a Research Symposium fromApril 7-8,
2016, at C1 room of the Chemistry Building
at the St. Augustine Campus. An update on
current anthurium research will be presented
at this event.
For further information, please contact
Sarah Evelyn is a laboratory technician in the Biotechnology Unit and an MPhil candidate researching
the extension of vase life in anthuriums with the Department of Life Sciences, at UWI, St. Augustine.
Spathe colour
“The anthurium industry thrives on novelty; consumers
are constantly seeking excitement and variety. Spathe colour is
an important component that influences consumer preference
for anthurium cut-flowers, and to effectively respond to the
seasonal demand, the industry needs a wide range of colours.
The Netherlands maintain their competitive advantage on the
international market because they are the world’s largest breeder
and therefore the source of most new colours and patterns
obtained through interspecific hybridization. Currently the
common spathe colours of anthurium include red, pink, orange,
coral and white. However, green, brown and maroon spathes exist
as well as “obakes” which are spatial bi-colours with green lobes
and coloured centres. Research has been ongoing at The UWI to
develop new spathe colours and patterns in tropically-adapted and
commercially competitive anthuriumvarieties.These novel colours
and patterns would give regional producers a competitive edge
and allow them to acquire higher premiums for their cut flowers.
This would assist in revitalizing the industry in the Caribbean,”
says PhD student, David Gopaulchan.
Vase life
The “end of vase life” is used by producers to describe
cut flowers that have lost quality so that they are no longer
marketable. There are several signs of the end of vase life
and these vary between species and between varieties.
In anthuriums, spadix browning and spathe browning,
discolouration, floppiness and loss of gloss are a few signs.
Many new anthurium varieties produced for disease resistance
and tropical adaptability have not been evaluated for vase life.
Several blooms which fit the florist’s preference of showy spathe
and bright colour have very short vase lives. Vase life in anthurium
varies from less than two weeks to more than six weeks, but only
those blooms lasting more than three weeks are suitable for
the export markets. This creates challenges for exportation and
international competiveness. We are conducting work to identify
the physiological mechanisms responsible for variation in vase
life in anthurium varieties.
“Once the physiological characteristics have been identified,
the genes responsible for variation in vase life can be isolated”
says Dr. Aidan Farrell. Manipulation of these genes by breeding
or genetic engineering can then be carried out to extend the vase
life of short-lived cultivars.
Several technological developments have been implemented
in anthuriumresearch atTheUWI. For example, the Biotechnology
Unit of the Department of Life Sciences has developed a
protocol for optimisation of anthurium transgenics through
micropropagation and transformation.
With all this research, who can say what anthurium blooms
will look like ten years from now? For further information
please visit the UWI anthurium website at
/
anthurium/.
Testing vase life in Anthurium
andraeanum
blooms.
PHOTO: SARAH EVELYN
Commercial cultivation of anthurium under shade.
PHOTO: AIDAN FARRELL
