MSc

Studies were carried out at College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara,
Thrissur, Kerala from June 1996 to June 1997- to know the effect of bioregulators on
growth, flowering and postharvest life of crossandra (Crossandra infundibuliformis
(L.) Nees.).
All the GA containing treatments (GA 100 ppm, 200 ppm either alone or
in combination with 1 % urea) caused a significant increase in height, the most
conspicuous one being GA 200 ppm. All the other vegetative growth parameters,
viz., spreading habit, number of leaves, leaf area and number of branches were
significantly increased by BA 200 ppm + 1 % urea, followed by GA 200 ppm
treatment.
Spike emergence after spray was earliest in CCC 500 ppm treated ones
followed by paclobutrazol 1000 ppm + 1 % urea treatments.
Month var variation was found to be prominent in most of the flowering
and floral characters, along with their interaction with field treatments. In general
GA containing treatments (GA l00 ppm + 1 % urea) caused quickest floret
appearance after spike emergence while this treatment and BA 200 ppm + 1 % urea
took maximum time for floret opening. Paclobutrazol 250 ppm + 1 % urea showed
maximum delay in floret appearance while paclobutrazol 500 ppm + urea caused
quickest opening of florets.
BA 200 ppm + 1 % urea and GA 200 ppm treatments were found to
have maximum desirable influence on number of spikes produced, number of florets

per plant, number of florets in a spike, length of spike and stalk length of spike.
Even though not much consistent and significant, CCC 500 ppm during October to
January increased spike and floret yield.
Weight of florets had a slight positive influence by GA treatments, while
length and diameter of the florets had no significant consistent variation among
treatments .
Paclobutrazol containing treatments envisaged almost complete
suppression of growth and flowering.
Chlorophyll 'a' content was maximum in CCC 500 ppm while
chlorophyll 'b' and total of chlorophyll 'a' and chlorophyll 'b' were maximum in
paclobutrazol 500 ppm + 1 % urea treatment. CCC 500 ppm resulted in maximum
carotene content of flowers.
Pulsing, precooling and storage behaviour was not influenced by field
treatments, while pulsing with 15% sucrose + 500 ppm 8-HQ and storage under
refrigerated conditions in 200 and 300 guage polythene covers was found superior
for extending the storage life and other postharvest characters of crossandra spike.
Vase life without storage was maximum for BA 100 ppm treatment and
3% sucrose + 100 ppm CoCl2 was found to be the best vase solution, while interac-
tion effect causes ZnS04 0.25% with and without urea to have the maximum vase
life in the above solution.