Effect of drip fertigation schedule and different mulches on vegetative growth of gladiolus cv. Psittacinus Hybrid

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted at Department of Horticulture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh during the year October 2016 to April 2018. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with Factorial concept (FRBD) consisting three factors with three replications. The treatment comprised with three levels of drip fertigation viz., water soluble NPK @ 200:200:200 kg/ha (F1), water soluble NPK @ 300:225:225 kg/ha (F2) and water soluble NPK @ 400:250:250 kg/ha (F3); three levels of split application of fertilizer viz. 2 split i.e. 30 and 60 DAP (S1), 3 split i.e. 20, 40 and 60 DAP (S2) and 4 split i.e. 15, 30, 45 and 60 DAP (S3) and three different mulches viz. red mulch (M1), black mulch (M2) and silver mulch (M3). The effects of these treatments were noted on vegetative growth of gladiolus. Significantly maximum sprouting percentage, plant height (at 30, 60 and 90 DAP), number of leaves (at 30, 60 & 90 DAP), number of effective tillers/plant and number of total tillers/plant, while number of non effective tillers/plant was minimum with the application of drip fertigation of NPK @ 200:200:200 kg/ha (F1), 3 split application of fertilizer (S2) and use of red mulch (M1). For interaction effect, the result was found non significant for all parameters except number of effective tillers/plant was recorded in treatment combinations F1S2, S2M1, F1M1 and F1S2M1.