Influence of bio regulators on corm production and preservative solutions on post harvest management of gladiolus Gladiolus grandiflorus L

Abstract

newline The present investigation entitled Influence of bio-regulators on corm production and preservative solutions on post-harvest management of gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Division of Floriculture and Landscaping at SKUAST-Jammu, Chatha during 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. In this study, two experiments were conducted separately on growth, flowering and corm production of gladiolus under the influence of foliar application of bio-regulators and to study the effect of preservative solutions on post-harvest management of gladiolus spikes. In the first experiment, three concentrations of GA3 and BA along with control were applied on three cultivars of gladiolus namely America Beauty , White Prosperity and Red Beauty . The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (Factorial) with 21 treatment combinations and three replications. The second experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (Factorial) with twelve treatment combinations comprising of three preservative solutions i.e. 5% Sucrose, 50 ppm AgNO3 and 5 % Sucrose + 50 ppm AgNo3 along with Control and three gladiolus cultivars. Findings of first experiment revealed that the foliar application of GA3 at 200 ppm on cv. White Prosperity resulted in maximum plant height (134.72 cm), number of leaves per plant (8.77), leaf area (74.78 cm2), number of spikes per plant (1.58), flower yield m-2 (26.39), spike length (120.33 cm), rachis length (65.67 cm), spike weight (106.83 g), corm diameter (4.80 cm) and cost-benefit ratio (1:2.31). Results of second experiment revealed that cv. White Prosperity with 50 ppm AgNO3 + 5 % Sucrose solution recorded highest final weight of gladiolus spike (61.08 g), total solution uptake (61.08 g/spike) and vase life (11.42 days) and solution balance (56.74 g/ spike). Minimum fresh weight change (4.62 %), water loss (2.89 g per spike) and water loss/water uptake ratio (0.05) was observed in cv. Red Beauty with 5 % sucrose solution. Non-significant res