Performance of Spray Formulations on Morpho-Physiological Features and Growth of Orchid Cultivars

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the field laboratory of the Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh during the period of November, 2009 to September, 2010 to investigate the effect of spray formulations of NPK fertilizer on morpho- physiological characters and growth of two orchid cultivars. The two factor experiment was laid out in the Completely Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The two factors are cultivars (Mokara Diheard Red and Mokara Yellow Anne) and four spray formulations (F0, F1, F2, F3). Data were collected on plant height, leaf length, leaf width, total leaf area, leaf area index, stem diameter, number of leaf, chlorophyll content, crop growth rate (CGR) and relative growth rate (RGR). Results revealed that the morphological and growth parameters of Mokara Diheard Red and Mokara Yellow Anne were significantly varied. Mokara Diheard Red performs better in chlorophyll content, CGR and RGR. Mokara Yellow Anne was superior in respect of leaf area index, total leaf area, leaf number and stem diameter. It was observed that the maximum increment of total leaf area, leaf area index, leaf number and stem diameter were found in spray formulation-3 (F3) and the lowest were in control (F0). Spray formulation-2 (F2) showed maximum increment of plant height, crop growth rate and relative growth rate over control (F0). So, the morpho-physiological features of orchid are significantly affected by spray formulation and the composition of spray formulation-2 (F2) and spray formulation-3 (F3) might be better for growth of orchid.