Optimizing Planting Time for Some Selected Commercial Gladiolus Cultivars under Agro-Climatic Conditions of Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Commercial Floriculture Research Area, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, during 2017-18 to evaluate different planting times for quality production of selected gladiolus cultivars. Sixcommercial gladiolus cultivars, viz., Advance, Amsterdam, Essential, Grand Prix, Rose Supreme and White Prosperity were compared by planting at five different planting times from September to November at 15 days interval. Data regarding vegetative growth, flowering and quality parameters were collected. Early sprouting, best vegetative growth and higher quality gladiolus stems were produced when planted in September for all tested cultivars, while among cultivars, ‘Rose Supreme’ proved best for all planting times in the agro-climatic conditions of Faisalabad. Early planting of gladiolus crop in the season with favourably high temperature and longer photoperiod produced strong growth response as compared to late plantings when temperature dropped below 20 °C with photoperiods became shorter. The minimum time to 50% sprouting (7.0 days) along with the highest sprouting percentage (95%), number of leaves per plant (9.6), leaf area (67.6 cm2), plant height (96.4 cm), spike length (73.0 cm), the longest vase life (11.9 d), the best spike quality (8.3) and the greatest number of cormels per clump (30.5) were recorded for September plantation, which gradually decreased with delayed planting. In summary, the best time of planting gladiolus under agro-climatic conditions of Faisalabad, Punjab (Pakistan) is September, which may be adopted by growers for quality stem production.