Abstract
Gladiolus is an ornamental bulbous plant and is commercially propagated in the world through its corms. Usually, a single bud is sprouted from a mother corm but sprouting of multiple buds favors an increase in production of propagules. Thus, present research work was carried out to enhance the sprouting of multiple buds and evaluate its effects on other growth parameters through pre-plant soaking of corms in solution of plant growth regulators. The corms were soaked in solutions of gibberellic acid (GA3), benzyladenine (BA) or ethrel at 0, 50, 100 or 150 ppm concentrations for 24 hrs before planting in the field. Gibberellic acid at 100ppm concentration increased plant height to 105 cm compared to 97.60 cm in control plants, flowering percentage (84.67%), spike length (40.03 cm) and also boosted the corm weight (68.30 g). Soaking of corms in 150 ppm benzyladenine solution enhanced the number of sprouting per corm (2.14) and reduced the plant height (87.00 cm) while 50 ppm concentration of ethrel increased the spike length (42.14 cm). In conclusion, soaking of corms in benzyladenine favored the modifications in various traits of interest including sprouting of multiple buds and an increase in the production of corms while gibberellic acid improved the floral characteristics of gladiolus spikes.
Highlights
Gladiolus is a perennial bulbous plant that belongs to family Irridaceae and widely grown as a cut flower in the world
Soaking of corms in benzyladenine favored the modifications in various traits of interest including sprouting of multiple buds and an increase in the production of corms while gibberellic acid improved the floral characteristics of gladiolus spikes
Corms treated with gibberellic acid showed 100% sprouting within 10 days of sowing compared to 75% sprouting in control (Figure 1)
Summary
Gladiolus is a perennial bulbous plant that belongs to family Irridaceae and widely grown as a cut flower in the world. The minimum control over vegetative and floral traits is another drawback of conventional system, which is not in favor of meeting the market demands. The control over flowering time and floral characteristics according to the demand of market has been achieved in many cut flowers by adopting modern production techniques including the use of plant growth regulators (PGRs). The application of PGRs has become the part of their cultural practices in many ornamental plants to modify their vegetative and floral traits. There are different application methods of PGRs including foliar application, pre-plant soaking and drenching but foliar application is the most common method being practiced in ornamental plants. Keeping in view the efficiency of this method, Pre-plant dipping of planting material in a chemical solution is www.ccsenet.org/jas
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