Evaluation of gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex Hooker F.) cultivars under subtropical hills of Meghalaya

An investigation was carried out to evaluate the performance of 23 cultivars of gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex Hooker F.) under open field conditions in the sub-tropical hills of Meghalaya. Significant differences were recorded for all 20 characters studied. The results revealed that Alesmera produced maximum plant height (25.75cm), ray breadth (0.60cm) and fresh weight of stalk (4.13g). Maximum number of leaves (52.16), and flowers (25.15) per plant and leaves breadth (7.00 cm) was recorded in Pink Star. Maximum leaf length (29.27cm), plant spread (78.00cm), stalk (0.43cm) and flower diameter (9.80cm), number of ray florets per flower (157.60), durability of flower (7.80 day) and fresh weight of flower (4.97g) was found in Divas Memory. However, longest stalk (44.00cm) was observed in cv. Jameson Hybrid.