GROWTH RESPONSES OF ZINNIA TO DIFFERENT ORGANIC MEDIA

Abstract

Zinnia is a beautiful summer annual flower, which is gaining popularity for its variety of colorful flowers. Its flowering pattern is greatly affected by the growth media. Growth and flowering of three different cultivars of zinnia (tall, medium and dwarf) were studied using different organic media including coconut coir + soil, composted leaves + silt, farm yard manure + silt, composted leaves alone, and garden soil alone as a control. Seedlings were transplanted to pots containing the different growth media and pots were arranged according to a CRD (Completely Randomized Design). Growth parameters that were evaluated included plant height (cm), stem diameter (cm), time of flower initiation, flower duration, number of flowers/plant, flower head size, number of ray florets/head, number of disc florets/head, number of lateral branches, internodal distance (cm), number of leaves/plant, leaf area (cm2) and root length (cm). Results showed that, among the plant cultivars, overall the dwarf cultivar responded the best, while the tall cultivar did not respond well to the organic growing media. Despite its relatively poor growth response, the tall cultivar had the highest survival rates among all cultivars. Among the media evaluated for growing zinnia, a mixture of FYM + silt and of composted leaves + silt showed the best results for all the cultivars used in this experiment.