Effect of plant growth regulators on plant growth, flower yield and quality of dahlia (Dahlia variabilis L.) cv. Kenya

Abstract

The field experiment entitled “Effect of plant growth regulators on plant growth, flower yield and quality of Dahlia cultivar was planned and conducted during Rabi season 2013-2014 at Research Farm of Department of Horticulture, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, (Deemed-to-be-University), Allahabad Uttar Pradesh India, with combination of different source of plant growth regulators on plant growth, flower yield and quality of Dahlia. Experiment consisted of 10 treatments with 3 replications laid in RBD. The result obtained from the experiment show that combination of different hormone source of plant growth regulators significantly affected the growth parameters of Dahlia such as plant height (124.08cm), plant spread (114.75cm), number of leaves / per plant (126.23), days of 1st bud initiation (83.50), flower diameter (23.92cm), number of flower / per plant (10.08), flower weight (75.25gm), flower yield / ha (16.9t), Average tuber weight (50.26gm), Average yield of tuber (17.83t/ha). The flower yield attributes of Dahlia were also influenced significantly by combination of different plant growth regulators. The maximum value of yield and yield attributes parameters viz. Maximum number of flower per plant, flower yield / ha, number of flower / plant were found to be higher under the treatment T6 (GA3 @ 200ppm).