Effect of different growing media on growth, flowering and corm yield of gladiolus cultivars (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.)

The present investigation entitled “Effect of Different Growing Media on Growth, Flowering and Corm Yield of Gladiolus Cultivars (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.)” was under taken in the Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, during Rabi season (2016-2017). The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with 12 treatments and each treatment was replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of different growing media (Farm Yard Manure @ 2kg/m2, Vermicompost @ 1kg/m2 and Sawdust @ 1kg/m2) and 4 varieties (Deepest Red, Jessica, Amsterdam and Esta Bonita). Early spike emergence (55.27) was found in Jessica Variety with application of FYM @ 2kg whereas spike length was maximum (94.00 cm) in variety Esta Bonita. Regarding number of florets per spike (14.83), number of daughter corms (65.16) per plant was found to be best in variety Amsterdam when FYM@2kg was applied whereas number of cormels (59.57) was found to be maximum in variety Deepest Red.