Influence of arbuscular mycorrhiza, gibberellic acid and kinetin on growth, quality parameters and petal senescence in gladiolus cv. Jessica

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the influence of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and plant growth regulators on growth, quality parameters, petal senescence and post harvest life of gladiolus cv. Jessica. The field experiment was laid out in randomized block design, replicated thrice, with two levels of gibberellic acid, i.e. 100, 200 and kinetin, i.e., 50 and 100 ppm by dipping the corms overnight and foliar spray during growth period. The laboratory experiment was laid out in completely randomized design, replicated thrice, with sucrose 4 per cent and 8-HQC at 200 ppm as vase solution to increase the post-harvest life of flower. Pre-soaking and foliar spray of kinetin 50 ppm + AM was found to be the best for plant height, early emergence of spike, number of florets per spike and vase-life followed by pre-soaking and foliar spray of gibberellic acid 100 ppm + AM and pre-soaking with kinetin 50 ppm + AM. Reduced level of total protein, reducing sugar, starch, total anthocyanins, and total carotenoids content; and increased level of non-reducing sugar, and phenol content were noticed during petal senescence as compared to fresh, fully grown petals. However, higher concentration of kinetin and gibberellic acid reduced growth and post-harvest life of florets relative to lower concentration.