Effect of physical and chemical interventions on flowering and quality parameters of jasmine (Jasminum sambac Ait.) cv. Ramanathapuram Gundumalli during off season

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University during 2017-2018 to study the effect of physical and chemical interventions on flowering and quality parameters of Jasminum sambac Ait. cv. Ramanathapuram Gundumalli during off season (Nov-Feb). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with six treatment combinations. Among the treatment combinations the plants treated with 0.5% Thiourea along with pruning during last week of September significantly increased flowering and quality parameters viz., days taken to initiate flowering (29 days), diameter of the flower buds (2.91 cm), corolla tube length (1.22 cm), total flower bud length (2.53 cm), number of cymes plant-1 (104.25), number of flower buds plant-1 (230.43), yield (55.60 g/plant), individual flower bud weight (0.2931 g) and freshness index under refrigerated condition (47.70%) in Jasminum sambac.