Abstract:
Studies were carried out in the Department of pomology and Floriculture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Thrissur, during 1991 – 93 to examine the effect of time of planting and growth regulators on flowering and vase life of gerbera. Four varieties, namely , Eoliet, Presley, Pritty and Sunbird and five treatments, viz., GA 50 ppm, GA 100 ppm, CCC 500 ppm, CCC 750 ppm and control, were tried.
Varieties were found to have significant influence on both vegetative as well as the floral characters whereas the treatments did not have any significant effect on vegetative characters of the Gerbera cultivars in general, when evaluated in the first season. In the second season both varietal and treatment effects were not consistent.
Variety Presley was found to be early flowering while Eoliet was late flowering. GA 50 ppm and GA 100 ppm hastened flowering whereas CCC 500 ppm and CCC 750 ppm delayed it.
In general the longevity of flowers was maximum in varieties Eoliet and Sunbird. Variety Presley had the least longevity. Among the treatments, CCC 750 ppm and GA 50 ppm increased the longevity of flowers in field.
Maximum number of blooms was produce by Presley and the minimum by Eoliet. In general GA 100 ppm and CCC 750 ppm increased the number of blooms.
In general CCC 750 ppm, GA 50 ppm and GA 100 ppm had a significant positive influence on flower diameter.
In general variety sunbird had the maximum stalk length and diameter, while Pritty produced the shorest stalks. CCC 500 ppm and CCC 750 ppm had the best effect on stalk length.
Vase life was found to be significantly increased by GA 100 ppm and CCC 750 ppm treatments given to the plants. Five per cent sucrose + 20 ppm AgNO3 significantly increased the longevity of flowers in vase.
Planting in June was found to be better than October planting with respect to vegetative as well as floral characters, especially for number of flowers and flower diameter.
Among the varieties, with respect to growth and number of flowers, Presley was found to be superior.
In the correlation studies flower number was found to have positive and highly significant correlation with plant height and leaf area whereas flower diameter had significant negative correlation with leaf area and stalk length. Petiole length, stalk diameter and leaf number had positive correlation with this character. Vase life had significantly positive correlation with fresh weight of flowers.
