Abstract
Problem Statement: Understanding the growth dynamics of short-lived plant could be critical as it would complete its life cycle in a short time period. It does not normally has much time to adjust to hostile environmental condition. This study provides a detail account on growth dynamics of Celosia cristata grown in five growing media for the production of high quality flowers. Approach: Celosia cristata plants were grown on five growing media (v/v): 100% Cocopeat (CP); 70% CP: 30% Burnt Rice Hull (BRH); 70% CP: 30% perlite; 70% CP: 30% Kenaf Core Fiber (KCF) and 40% CP: 60% KCF. To explore the dynamics of plant growth and development, data on plant height and canopy diameter were regressed against Days After Transplanting (DAT) by using the equation y = A/(1+be-cx) while its derivative [dy/dx = (Abce-cx))/(1+be-cx)2] was used to estimate the growth rate of the parameter. The variation in leaf number, flower length and flower diameter were modeled using an exponential function of y = Aebx and their rate of change was derived using dx/dy = Abebx. Results: The growth rates of plant height, canopy diameter and leaf number of plants grown in media containing 100% CP, 70% CP: 30% BRH, 70% CP: 30% perlite, 70% CP: 30% KCF were higher than those grown on media containing 40% CP: 60% KCF. The growth rates of stem and canopy of the plants grown in the later media tended to be higher at the end of the growth cycle. This, however would not be sufficient to compensate their early losses, since the rate of growth in leaf number did not increase concurrently. Negative effects of media containing KCF were also detected in flower size. Conclusion: Overall results showed that CP is an excellent growing media for the production of Celosia cristata. Replacing 30% of CP with BRH, perlite and KCF did not affect the growth and flowering of the plants.
Highlights
Celosia cristata, commonly known as cockscomb is an annual ornamental plant
The performance of plants on different growing media are illustrated in Fig. 1, which indicated that the pattern of growth are well fitted into the growth function of y = A/(1+be−cx), but with different growth rates
Plant grown on 100% CP, 70% CP: 30% RBH and 70% CP: 30% perlite had no difference in both plant height (Fig. 1) and the growth rate (Fig. 2 and Table 3)
Summary
Commonly known as cockscomb is an annual ornamental plant. It is widely used as potted and bedding plant or cut flower and dried flowers. Celosia spp. tend to flower prematurely, giving a poor quality of short-statured plant with small flowers. Aerial environmental factors such as temperature, photoperiod and irradiance are not of major concern in determining the success of annual flower production of annual flowers in the tropics. Due to high evaporative demand faced by annual flowers in the tropics, which is normally grown in the open under intense sunlight irradiance and strong winds and sometime coupled with low mid-day humidity, proper selection of growing media is necessary
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