摘要：Lily growers adapt intensive fertigation programs to produce superior flowers, which raises substrate salinity and input cost. Soil salinity negatively impact growth and productivity and lead to several environmental problems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of K~+ (applied as K_2SO_4 drench application) in ameliorating the negative effects of irrigation-saline water in Asiatic lily growth, physiology, and flower quality. Both lily cultivars bulbs were grown in 10 L pots filled with 3:1 peat moss: perlite. Treatments were three levels of irrigation saline water (electrical conductivity (EC), 0.5 (control), 3.0 and 6 dS m~(-1)) and two K (applied as K_2SO_4) concentrations 10 and 15 mmol l~(-1). Irrigation with saline water significantly increased soil salinity and pH, especially in 6 dS m~(-1) salt level. As a result, the 6.0 dS m~(-1) treatment reduced stem diameter, plant height and total leaf area. In addition, gas exchange (specifically, Pn and E) in control (0.5 dS m~(-1)) plants during the vegetative stage was significantly higher than the 6.0 dS m~(-1) treatment. During flowering, irrigation with 6.0 dS m~(-1) saline water significantly reduced flower number per stem, H* color coordinate and flower diameter. Interestingly, the response of lily flower to moderate salt stress (3 dS m~(-1)) was similar to control (0.5 dS m~(-1)) treatment. The 3 dS m~(-1) salinity treatment had similar color density coordinates (L*, C*, H*), days to flowering, and flower longevity when compared to control (0.5 dS m~(-1)). Additionally, K_2SO_4 treatment (15 mmol l~(-1)) potentially improved lily growth (gas exchange and stem diameter) during vegetative stage. Overall, irrigation with moderate levels of salts (3 dS m~(-1)) has no negative impact on lily growth and productivity. Furthermore, supplementary K~+ applied as K2SO4 (15 mmol l~(-1)) can alleviate the negative impact of salinity during the vegetative growth.
