FLOWER QUALITY AND VASE LIFE OF GLADIOLUS AS AFFECTED BY HORMONES

ABSTRACT: An experiment was conducted at the Floriculture field of Horticulture Research Centre, Gazipur during Rabi season of 2021-22 to find out the effect of preharvest spray of different hormones (GA3, SA and BA) at different concentrations on flower and vase  life of gladiolus.  The experiment  was laid out in a Randomized CompleteBlock design with three replications. The treatments were T1=GA3 @ 100 ppm, T2=GA3 @  200 ppm, T3=GA3  @ 300 ppm, T4=SA@ 100 ppm, T5=SA @ 200 ppm, T6=SA @ 300 ppm, T7=BA @ 100 ppm, T8=BA @ 200 ppm, T9=BA @ 300 ppm and T10 = Control (fresh water). Healthy corms of gladiolus having a diameter of about 5.0 cm were used as plantingmaterial.  The aqueoussolution  of GA3 (100, 200 and 300 ppm), SA (100, 200 and 300 ppm) and BA (100, 200 and 300 ppm) along with control (fresh water) were applied twice on  the flower plants at three and six leaves stage. Flowering parameters of plants as well as vase life of flowers were significantly influenced by the application of  hormones. Among all the treatments, application of SA @ 100 ppm was recorded to be an outstanding treatment in  improving floraland vase qualityattributes i.e. highestspike (78.5 cm) and rachislength (52.8 cm), maximum floret number/spike (14.5), biggest floret diameter (10.0 cm) and  early spike initiation (65 days) were observed as compared to control. The maximum floret opening (90%), highest water uptake (45.0 g) and maximum  vase life (12 days) were also noted with SA @ 100 ppm in gladiolus.

Keywords: Gladiolus, preharvest spray, gibberellic acid, benzyladenine, salicylic acid, vase life