Effect of Corm Size, Aloe Vera Gel and Biofertilizers on the Growth of Freesia Plant Freesia hybrid L.

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the plastic house of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering in the College of Agriculture and Forestry/University of Mosul. During the period from ((10/27/2021) to (7/22/2022) to study the effect of the size of corms, aloe vera gel, and bio fertilizers on the growth of the freesia plant. The experiment was carried out using a randomized complete block design with three factors, which is the cultivation of freesia plants in large and small sizes and the treatment with three concentrations of aloe vera gel (zero - 25% - 50% - 100%) ml / liter, in addition to the comparison treatment, where the corms were immersed in distilled water only, and the two types of biological fertilizers, the first type represented by the fungal bio fertilizer Trichoderma harzinum (T-22) and Bio health, and the data were analyzed statistically using the SAS program, and the results were tested according to Dunkin’s multinomial test under the probability level of 5%. The results showed a significant superiority of the size of the treated corms in each of plant height, leaf area, The length of the main Inflorescence, and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence, which reached 23.08 cm, 79.21 cm2, 13.90 cm, and 9.09 florets, respectively, compared to the treated small corms, which amounted to 20.29 cm, 60.59cm2, 11.43cm, and 8.61 florets, as well as in the content of freesia leaves for each of nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbohydrates, at rates of 3.03%, 0.28%, and 0.57%, respectively, while no significant differences appeared in their content of potassium and chlorophyll compared to the standard treatment. And through the concentrations of the four aloe vera gels used, it became clear that the best one was with a concentration of 100% in each of the plant height, leaf area, The length of the main Inflorescence, and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence, which were 22.51 cm, 74.70 cm2, 13.50 cm, and 9.99 florets, respectively. In addition, the fourth concentration had an effective positive effect on the content of plant leaves of N, K, and P, at rates of 3.00%, 0.28%, and 0.93%, respectively. In each of the plant height and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence It turned out that the positive effect of bio health fertilizer it reached 25.58 cm and 10.13 florets, respectively, which differed significantly with fungal bio fertilizer (T-22), while there were no significant differences in the fertilizer treatments (bio fertilizers and bio health) in each of the leaf areas and the length of the stem.