Effect of different sources of nutrients on growth and flow - ering in gladiolus (Gladiolus hybridus hort.) CV. “Peater pears”

An investigation was carried out to study the combined applications of different sources of nutrients on vegetative growth and flowering characters of gladiolus cv. Peater Pears. The treatments included Azospirillum, PSB, vermicompost and FYM with and without 100, 75 and 50% recommended dose of NPK. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The experiment consisted of ten treatments viz. T1: control (with out NPK), T2: 100% RDF (180:80:80 kg/ha NPK), T3: 75% RDF + 25% VC, T4,: 75% RDF+ 25% VC + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum + 2.0 g/plant PSB, T5: 75% RDF + 25% Leaf Mould, T6: 75% RDF + 25% Leaf Mould + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum.+ 2.0 g/plant PSB, T7: 75% RDF + 25% Neem Cake, T8: 75% RDF + 25% Neem Cake + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum + 2.0/plant PSB, T9: 50% RDF + 50% VC, T10: 50% RDF + 50% VC + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum + 2.0 g/plant PSB, T11: 50% RDF + 50% Neem Cake + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum + 2.0 g/plant PSB, T12:50% RDF + 50% Leaf Mould + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum. + 2.0 g/plant PSB. The application of T4: 75% RDF+ 25% VC + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum + 2.0 g/plant PSB. Analysis of results revealed that treatment T4,: 75% RDF+ 25% VC + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum + 2.0 g/plant PSB, significantly induced the days taken to sprouting and increased the height of plant, number of leaves per plant and length of longest leaf per plant. However, treatment T10 significantly gave maximum diameter of leaf. Treatment receiving 50% RDF+ 50% VC + 2.0 g/plant Azospirillum + 2.0 g/plant PSB emerged earlier spike while minimum days required for opening of first flower on spike and maximum longevity of spike was observed in treatment T6. In terms of vase life of cut flowers at room temperature, treatment T4 shown maximum vase life.