In order to evaluate the response of effective vernalization days on the soluble sugar and total nitrogen contents and the emergence of Lilium longiflorum plant shoots, cv ‘Snow Queen’ bulbs were kept under different vernalization temperatures and periods of treatment under vernalizing temperatures, and cultivated in a plastic greenhouse after the vernalization. The experiment was carried out at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS, in two seasons: from 03/20/02 to 11/05/02 and from 12/05/02 to 05/15/03. The treatments were 0, 9, 11, 14, 19, 23, 28, 29, 34, 38, 42, 45 and 56 effective vernalization days, calculated with a beta response function to temperature. The soluble sugar and total nitrogen contents, and the duration of the planting-emergence (P-M) phase were determined. The vernalization promoted the mobilization of sugar and nitrogen reserves, which is important for the nutrition of the emergence of the shoot. The increasing number of the effective vernalization days reduced the duration of the P-E phase. Bulbs treated under temperatures of 10ºC for 6 to 8 weeks of storage (34 and 45DV), had the shortest duration of the P-E phase.
vernalization; temperature; Lilium; effective vernalization days
