Standardization of soilless medium and foliar nutrients for potted ornamental foliage plants

Abstract

The study entitled “Standardization of soilless medium and foliar nutrients for potted ornamental foliage plants” was conducted at the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture at the College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara during 2020-21. The objective of the study was to standardize soilless medium and foliar nutrients for potted ornamental foliage plants and to work out the economics. Growing media combinations comprised of cocopeat, coco chips, vermicompost, neem cake, perlite and vermiculite in different proportions and foliar nutrients like NPK-19:19:19 and seaweed extract were evaluated to standardize the ideal potting medium and foliar nutrients for raising potted foliage plants. The experiment was laid out in CRD (factorial) with 5 different growing media viz., M1: cocopeat (50%) + vermicompost (30%) + perlite (10%) + vermiculite (10%), M2: cocopeat (50%) + vermicompost (20%) + neem cake (10%) + perlite (10%) +vermiculite (10%), M3: coco chips (50%) + vermicompost (30%) + Perlite (10%) + Vermiculite (10%), M4: coco chips (50%) + vermicompost (20%) + neem cake (10%) + perlite (10%) + vermiculite (10%) and M5: cocopeat (60%) + vermicompost (20%) + perlite (20%) and 2 different foliar nutrients viz., N1 : NPK-19:19:19 at 2 g/L and N2: seaweed extract (IFFCO-Sagarika) at 10ml/L with 10 treatment combinations viz., T1: M1 x N1, T2: M2 x N1, T3: M3 x N1, T4: M4 x N1, T5: M5 x N1, T6: M1 x N2, T7: M2 x N2, T8: M3 x N2, T9: M4 x N2, T10: M5 x N2 each with three replications. Popular ornamental foliage plant Philodendron xanadu was used in the experiment. Vegetative characters are important parameters for potted ornamental foliage plants as they decide the attractiveness and presentability. There was a significant variation with respect to all vegetative parameters due to growing media. M2 and M4 were on par and statistically superior with respect to plant height, plant spread, leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, leaf longevity, leaf production interval, leaf area, shoot girth, shoot length, fresh and dry weights of the leaves. In general, it could be observed that plants grown in M2 and M4 had all quality criteria for potted ornamental foliage plants. Root parameters determine the nutrient uptake, translocation and growth of the plants. During the experiment, significant influence of growing media was observed only on root length, no. of laterals and root volume. Greatest no. of lateral roots as well as longest roots were observed in M2 and M4, whereas maximum root volume was noticed in M1 and M4. With respect to fresh and dry weights of the roots, no significant difference was noticed due to the growing media. The physicochemical properties of the media are important with respect to plants growth as they determine the growth of the root system and availability of nutrients. Medium M4 had low bulk density and highest porosity which are desirable for growth of roots while medium M5 was found to have highest water holding capacity. pH and EC of all the growing media were within the optimal range. Media M2 and M4 were observed to be promising with respect to plant nutrient content as well as plant nutrient uptake and total chlorophyll content. During the experiment, both NPK19:19:19 and seaweed extract were applied as a foliar spray at fortnightly intervals. Application of foliar nutrients were found to be nonsignificant with respect to vegetative parameters viz., plant spread, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, leaf longevity, leaf production interval, leaf area, shoot girth, shoot length, fresh and dry weights of the leaves and root parameters viz., fresh and dry weights of the roots, no. of lateral roots and root volume. However foliar nutrients were found to have a significant impact on plant height and root length. Application of N1 recorded the greatest plant height whereas application of N2 was found to have the greatest root length. Application of foliar nutrients had significant influence only with respect to nitrogen content and highest nitrogen content was observed with application of N1 Growing media M4 and M2 performed well with respect to vegetative parameters, root parameters, physico-chemical properties of the media. Compact growth of plants and weightless growing media are desirable for interior scaping. Plants grown in M4 and M2 were found to have compact growth. These media were light in weight and cost was found less. Efficacy of both nutrient formulations were found to be the same and it may be concluded that use of N2 is beneficial as seaweed extract is organic fertilizer which contains sufficient amount of nutrients and growth promoting hormones. Hence the media M4 as well as M2 in combination with N2 (seaweed extract) can be recommended for compact growth of potted ornamental foliage plants for interior scaping.