Tirsdag den 17. desember forsvarte M. Sc. Md. Nazrul Islam (bilde)ved Institutt for plantefag, Norges landbrukshøgskole sin doktoravhandling "Effects of climatic and nutritional factors on flowering, growth, and keeping quality of Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf.) Shinn."
Veiledere for oppgaven har vært professor Hans Ragnar Gislerød, og førsteamanuensis Grete Grindal Patil, begge fra Institutt for plantefag (IPF).
Bedømmelseskomiteen består av Professor dr. Olavi Junttila, Helsingfors universitet, Finland, dr. Kåre Willumsen, Landbrukstilsynet, Norge og førsteamanuensis Halvard Baugerød, IPF
Nazrul Islam is assistant professor at the Department of Horticulture in Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh since 1990. He was born in 1963 and graduated from Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymenshingh, Bangladesh. He secured first class in all his levels from Secondary school to University education in Bangladesh. Nazrul Islam has completed his M. Sc. on Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture, NLH, in 1998 and pursued his Ph.D. studies at the Department of Horticulture and Crop Sciences, NLH, from August 1998 to December 2002.
Mr. Islam was a quota student and has got financial support from the State Education Loan Fund.
Eustoma Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf.) Shinn. is a popular ornamental flower, originating in the Northern US and developed mostly in Japan. It has been produced worldwide for a long time and was introduced to Norway about 10 years ago. Commercial producers struggle with different aspects of production and management of this crop. Nazrul Islam in his work has tried to obtain a better understanding of the effects of climatic factors and fertilization on growth and flowering to improve productivity through development of better growing conditions and to improve management practices.
The main aim of these studies was to investigate the effects of climatic factors and calcium (Ca) fertilization on flowering, growth and post harvest life of Eustoma grown under greenhouse conditions. Several experiments were conducted in a computer controlled greenhouse to investigate the effects of different climatic factors such as light, both as photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) and daily lighting period, air humidity (RH) and Ca fertilization on flower initiation, growth, microclimate at the canopy level, incidence of tip burn and post harvest life.
Nazrul Islams thesis shows that Eustoma is a quantitative long-day plant. The plant should be grown under long day (LD) and more specifically LD with high light and with an initial period of short day at least until they are 10 weeks old, in order to reduce the crop period and improve the stem quality. However, for high quality products, high light intensity, long lighting period, moderate RH (< 80%) and high Ca levels in the nutrient solution during the growing period, as well as use of sugar combined with HQS (a germistat) during the vase period, are all important factors.
Islam, N., 2002. Effects of climatic and nutritional factors on flowering, growth, and keeping quality of Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf.) Shinn. Doctor Scientiarum Theses 2002:47. Agricultural University of Norway. ISBN 82-575-0532-3
