Effect of foliar application of micronutrients on growth, flowering and yield of gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.)

An experiment was laid out to study the effect of micronutrients (B, Zn and Fu) in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications and 10 treatments on growth flowering and yield characters of gladiolus at the Horticulture Research Farm, Andro, College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University, Imphal. The treatments consisted of T1 (Control), T2 (100 ppm B), T3 (200 ppm B), T4 (300 ppm B), T5 (100 ppm Zn), T6 (200 ppm Zn), T7 (300 ppm Zn), T8 (100 ppm Fe), T9 (200 ppm Fe) and T10 (300 ppm Fe). Observations were recorded on vegetative parameters at 30 and 60 DAP, flowering, flower yield and corm and cormel parameters. From the present study, it was found that among the various treatments, foliar application of T7 (300 ppm Zn) significantly influenced all the vegetative parameters i.e. plant height (cm), number of leaves and length of leaf at 30 and 60 DAP. Also, significantly maximum duration of flowering, length of the spike, yield of spike per m2, yield of spikes per hectare, diameter of the corm, weight of the corm, number of cormels per plant and yield of corm per hectare were found with foliar application of T7 (300 ppm Zn). However, maximum fresh weight of the spike was found in T4 (300 ppm B). Control recorded minimum value in all the vegetative, flowering and corm parameters. Hence, foliar application of 300 ppm Zn at 30 and 60 DAP can be a part of recommendation for commercial cultivation of gladiolus.