Response of Plant Growth Regulators, Coconut Water and Cow Urine on Vegetative Growth, Flowering and Corm Production in Gladiolus

A field study on the effect of growth regulators (GA_3, Kinetin and NAA), coconut water, cow urine and mixture of cow urine and growth regulators on growth and development of gladiolus was carried out at ICAR Research Complex, Goa, from November 2005 to March 2006. Uniform sized corms of gladiolus cv. White Prosperity were soaked in solutions of growth regulators, coconut water and cow urine for 24 h and planted in the field. The maximum plant height was resulted in GA, 150 ppm, whereas minimum was noticed with cow urine (20%) + Kinetin (50 ppm) followed by cow urine 10 % and cow urine 100 per cent. Treatments of cow urinel0%, cow urine (20 %) + GA, (100 ppm), GA₃150 ppm and GA₃100 ppm advanced the flowering (days to spike emergence and flowering) while it was delayed by NAA 100ppm and NAA 200ppm as compared to control. More spike length was observed with coconut water 50 %, cow urine 10 % and coconut water 25 %. Among the treatments, cow urine at 10 % concentration emerged as the best one in respect of number of florets/spike, rachis length and spike stalk girth. There was a significant reduction in duration of flowering in cow urine (20 %) + NAA (100 ppm) and cow urine (20 %) + Kinetin (50 ppm) whereas NAA 200 ppm, GA₃ 100 ppm and GA₃ 150 ppm prolonged the flowering duration when compared to the control. Cow urine at 20%, 50% and 100 % greatly improved the number of cormels/plant. Bigger size and heavier corms were produced with cow urine (20 %) + Kinetin (50 ppm) compared to control and other treatments.