FULL-LENGTH RESEARCH ARTICLE Photosynthate Partitioning in Asiatic Lilies Under Ammoniacal and Nitrate Sources of Nitrogen Muneeb A. Wani 1 • Imtiyaz T. Nazki 1 • Ambreena Din 1 • Sajid A. Malik 1 • Z. A. Rather 1 Received: 15 August 2015 / Accepted: 24 June 2016 / Published online: 5 August 2016 Ó NAAS (National Academy of Agricultural Sciences) 2016 Abstract Dry matter accumulation, photosynthate partitioning and chlorophyll retention by Asiatic lily cultivars ‘‘Ser- reda’’ and ‘‘Navona’’ were evaluated under two sources of nitrogen, urea as NH 4 - and calcium nitrate as NO 3 - , applied at the rate of 40 g m -2 (as N). The fertilizers were applied in 2, 3 and 4 equal splits at 30, 60 75 and 90 days after planting (DAP). Nitrogen in the form of calcium nitrate significantly improved relative growth rate (RGR), net assimilation rate (NAR), net chlorophyll content and leaf area throughout the growth period. Nitrogen application was advantageous as 3 and 4 split applications and significantly improved RGR, NAR and net chlorophyll content, thus helping export of photosynthates to bulbs as well as chlorophyll retention in the 105 DAP period. The results of the present study showed that the cultivar ‘‘Serreda’’ was having better growth than the cultivar ‘‘Navona’’ in terms of dry matter accumulation, chlorophyll retention, leaf area and photosynthetic partitioning. Nitrate was significantly superior in improving plant growth, leaf area, dry matter accumulation and net chlorophyll content. Application of 40 g N m -2 in three (S 2 ) and four (S 3 ) split applications significantly improved overall growth and yield. Keywords Chlorophyll  Dry weight  Dry matter accumulation  Assimilation rate  Nitrogen  Plant growth Abbreviations cv: Cultivar; DAP: Days after planting; DMSO: Dimethyl sulfoxide; LAI: Leaf area index; NAR: Net assimilation rate; N: Nitrogen; RGR: Relative growth rate; Introduction Globally, lilium is the second ranked cut flower in pro- duction [4]. Total area under lily bulb production in 2009 was 5500 ha, out of which 4266 ha was contributed by The Netherlands. A total of 2.21 billion lilium bulbs were produced in The Netherlands in 2010, out of which 0.41 billion for internal cut flower production. In 2009, wholesale value of lily cut flowers at Dutch auction was 141 million euros [15]. Comparable trade figures regarding India are lacking because of unorganized nature of the floriculture sector in the country. Given the great morphological differences and those of dry matter production among the different types of lilium, their nutritional requirements are probably different, lilium spp. does not have outstanding nutritional demands, but an appropriate fertilization is essential for producing high quality plants [3]. In Kashmir valley, culture of Asiatic lilies for cut flower production has become popular among the flower growers during last 4–5 years. Most of the bulbs are imported from The Netherlands and planted in open field or under shade net during the summer and in unheated polyethylene houses for the September crop. Demand for lily bulbs is & Muneeb A. Wani wanimuneeb05@gmail.com; wanimuneeb@skuastkashmir.ac.in 1 Division of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar Campus Srinagar 190001, Jammu and Kashmir, India 123 Agric Res (September 2016) 5(3):230–235 DOI 10.1007/s40003-016-0222-x