58. Influence of gibberellic acid on vegetative, floral and corms yield of gladiolus cultivars under the agro-climatic condition of Peshawar-Pakistan
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Abstract
Abstract
Gladiolus is an important cut flower commercialized in Pakistan, and the use of gibberellic acid (GA3) to cultivate it in the Peshawar valley may promote the production of high quality flower spikes. Therefore, an experiment “Influence of Gibberellic acid on vegetative, floral and corm yield of gladiolus cultivars” was conducted under the climatic condition of Peshawar, during 2016. The experiment was laid out in two factors Randomized Complete Block Design there were five treatments replicated three times. Factor “A” was the gibberellic acid (GA3) concentrations i.e. 0, 50, 100, 150, 200 mgL-1 Factor “B” was the two cultivars of gladiolus i.e., White Prosperity and Red Advance. It revealed from the results that most of the parameters were significantly influenced by gibberellic acid at 200 mgL-1. The maximum sprouting percentage (96.25), number of leaves plant-1 (10.6), number of floret spike-1 (14.4), number of shoots plant-1 (3.17), number of daughter corm plant-1 (3.54) and survival percentage (88.50), less days to corm sprouting (17.9), number of days to spike emergence (48.83), days to floret opening (72.73) were recorded in plants treated with 200 mgL-1 of gibberellic acid (GA3) concentration. Whereas, the maximum plant height (75.62 cm), length of spike plant-1 (57.15 cm), corm diameter (3.37 cm) corm weight (14.90 g) were recorded in plants treated with 150 mgL-1Gibberellic acid. Red advance produced more number of leaves plant-1 (9.89), number of shoots plant-1, (2.69) corm diameter (3.04 cm), corm weight (13.03 g), survival percentage (70.9), less number of days to spike emergence (53.8) and days to floret opening (74.5). It can be concluded from the present findings that the treatment of corms with 200 mgL-1gibberellic acid can improve the growth and yield of Red Advance cultivar of gladiolus under the agro-climatic conditions of Peshawar valley.
Keywords: Corm yield; Flower production; Gibberellic acid; Gladiolus cultivars; Vegetative growth