20. Impact of agro-climatic conditions of Faisalabad on growth performance of Portulaca genotypes
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Abstract
Portulaca oleracea L. is a warm-climate, herbaceous succulent annual plant with a cosmopolitan distribution belonging to the Portulacaceae family. The majority of Portulaca genotypes are succulents that do well in drought and desert gardens. This characteristic of Portulaca genotypes formulates them as the main candidate for gardens and landscape in the region with water scarcity and saline soils. The selection of exotic genotypes in the novel atmosphere is not an easy task. Present research was designed to evaluate the growth performance of various Portulaca grandiflora genotypes. The variability among the Partulaca genotypes was observed to find out the best performer under the agro-climatic conditions of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Five Portulaca grandiflora genotypes were grown in the Institute of Horticultural Sciences' research field, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, and data was recorded for morphological traits. The conducted experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The data on eight morphological traits i.e. height of the plant, number of shoots, shoot length, number of leaves per branch, number of leaves on the plant, number of days to flower emergence, and flower size were recorded and analyzed. Amongst the five genotypes, significant variation was seen for different yield and growth-related parameters. Main parameters that were analyzed during the study include the height of the plant, number of shoots, shoot length, number of leaves per branch, number of leaves on the plant, number of days to flower emergence and flower size Out results suggested that “Portulaca long time bloom” performed best in vegetative and flowering traits followed by “Portulaca Yubi Pink” in agro-climatic conditions of Faisalabad.
Keywords: agro-climatic conditions; morphological traits; performance evaluation; Portulaca genotypes