Abstract

Gladiolus is a nutrient responsive crop that requires major and micro-nutrients viz. N, P, K, Zn, Mn, Fe, B, along with gypsum significantly improves the growth, flowering, yield and quality of corms. In addition, gypsum acts as a source of calcium and soil loosening factor that is needed for corm development. Hence, field experiment was conducted during 2019-2020 at Department of Horticulture, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India on gladiolus cv. Guvari to maximize the yield and quality of spikes and corms. The treatments comprised of ten different combinations of recommended dose of fertilizers (120:150:150 kg/ha NPK), Gypsum (100, 200 and 300 kg/ha) and foliar application of FeSO4, MnSO4 ZnSO4 and HBO(0.5% each in single spray on 30 days 44, 4 33 after planting (DAP) and two sprays on 30 and 45 DAP laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The growth, flowering, and corm yield parameters were periodically assessed. The results revealed that application of gypsum and micronutrients significantly increased the vegetative growth, flowering, spike yield, and corm yield. Application of 300 Kg/ha gypsum was found effective when compared to low doses. Among the ten treatments, application of 120:150:150 kg/ha NPK + 300 kg/ha Gypsum + foliar spray of (0.5% each) FeSO4, MnSO4 ZnSO4 and H3BO3 at 30 and 45 DAP found most 44, 4 33 effective with higher plant height, leaf area, root dry weight, dry matter production, spike length, floret diameter, spike yield, and number of marketable spikes per plant. The corm yield parameters including corm weight, number of daughter corms per plant, number of cormels per plant and weight of daughter corms were also superior in this treatment. Hence, it is confirmed that the application of 300 kg/ha gypsum + foliar spray of (0.5% each) FeSO4, MnSO4ZnSO4 and H3BO3 at 30 and 45 days after planting P along 44, 4 33 with 120:150:150 kg/ha NPK proved maximizing the spike and corm yield of gladiolus.