Effect of split application of phosphorus on vegetative and reproductive growth of Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) “Candyman” under Bhubaneswar condition

Abstract

The present investigation entitled “Effect of split application of phosphorus on vegetative and reproductive growth of Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) “Candyman” under Bhubaneswar condition’’ was conducted at College of Agriculture, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha during the period from 7th November 2018 to 10th April 2019. The experiment was laid out with thirteen treatment and three replications following RBD to study the effect of different doses and number of split application of phosphorus in gladiolus. The treatments include four levels of phosphorus doses (10g, 20g,30g, 50g) and three levels of number of split application at 15, 30, 45 days after planting with a constant dose of 40g nitrogen in two equal split at 15days and 30 days after planting and 30g. potassium after 15 days of planting and T13 as control without any fertilizer application. The results derived from the experiment indicate that application of phosphorus exhibited significant improvements in vegetative characteristics, reproductive characteristics and production of corms and cormels. In contrast to this the control plots which are devoid of any fertilizers experienced poor vegetative growth along with inferior quality flower spike with less yield of corm and cormels. Among all the treatment treatment T4 (50g phosphorus once at time) was shown best result with respect to vegetative parameters, including plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf width and plant spread.andT7 (30g phosphorus in two equal splits) was shown better reproductive growth in both quality and quantity (spike length, rachis length, spike per one square meter, number of florets per spike, flowering duration).