K. R. Joshi , D. M. Gautam , D. R. Baral and U. K. Pun

DOI

ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of corm size and varieties on growth performance and cut flower characteristics of gladiolus in the farmer’s field at Gunjanagar VDC, Chanauli, Chitwan during November 2008 to April 2009. The experiment consisted of 12 treatment combinations laid out in twofactorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Four sizes of corms viz. 2-3cm, 3-4cm, 4-5cm and 5-6cm and three varieties viz. American Beauty, Interpret and Yellow Summer Sunshine Growth performance and cut flower characteristics varied significantly among varities and was affected by the size of corm. Large sized corms (5-6cm) performed better with respect to days to sprouting (16.11 days). Earlier spikes initiation (87.89 days), longer spikes (107.1cm) and more number of florets/spike (16.26) were produced from largest corms (5-6cm). Significant variation was observed among the varieties in most of the characters. Yellow Summer Sunshine sprouted earlier (16.08 days) while Interpret had earlier spike initiation (87.25 days). Plant height, leaf length and number of daughter corms were found highest in Yellow Summer Sunshine while maximum numbers of leaves per plant were found in American Beauty followed by Interpret . Regarding cut flower characteristics, Interpret was found superior having more number (16.12) of florets/spike.