Effect of Different Planting Dates on Growth and Development of Gladiolus grandiflorus under the Ecological Conditions of Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract

The present study was carried out to elucidate the effect of different sowing dates and temperature on growth, yield and quality of two important cultivars of Gladiolus grandiflorus L. Rose supreme and White prosperity .The results showed that different planting dates have significant effect on number of days taken by gladiolus corm to germinate. A significant superiority of T 1 5.5 days over T 2 with 9.10 days on all the treatments was observed. Among the treatments maximum sprouting percentage was recorded in T 2 with 94.66 % followed by T 3 82.19 % on all the treatments. The days to 6-leaves stage depict highly significant difference in variance of treatments, interactive effect of treatments and cultivars. The maximum plant height (115.33cm) was recorded in T 2 followed by T 3 with 111.04cm. Mean values of number of leaves indicated significant superiority of T 2 with 8.02 leaves and T 3 with 7.93 leaves on all other treatments. The maximum chlorophyll contents 71.60 were recorded in T 2 followed by T 3 with 67.65 on all the treatments. Spike length showed highly significant difference in variance of treatments, interactive effect of treatments and cultivars. The maximum number of florets (17.16) was recorded in T 2 followed by T 3 with 15.83 florets. Among the treatments maximum corm diameter (6.19 cm) was recorded on T 2 and T 6 showed maximum number of cormels (5.96 cm). It is suggested that proper planting date reduce the production cost by reducing the crop time and also produce elite flowers with increased market value.