Studies on the effect of plant hormones on flowering behavior of Gaillardia (Gaillardia pulchella L.)

Abstract

Blanket flower (Gaillardia spp. Foug.), also known as fire-wheel or Indian blanket, is a native plant that has found its way into the realm of cultivation and extensive production. It’s gorgeously coloured flowers are best arranged in copper bowls or simple plain-coloured vases. The successful commercial cultivation of the crop depends on several factors like, genetic, environment and management factors. In recent years, scientists have given due attention to the idea of regulating plant growth, yield and quality with the application of plant growth regulators in various ways. The experiment was conducted at Horticulture farm of B.T. College, Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh during 2016 The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications with two plant growth promoting hormones viz; NAA @ 50, 75 and 100 ppm and GA3 @ 50, 75 and 100 ppm, and two plant growth retardants viz., CCC @ 500, 1000 and 1500 ppm abd PBZ @150, 200 and 250 ppm with a Control. The Spraying with different growth regulators was done thrice i.e. 30, 45 and 60 days after transplanting. The observations on flowering attributes and yield were recorded on randomly selected five plants. From the present findings, it is concluded that the gibberellic acid treatments were having profound effect of all the growth and flowering characters of gaillardia. The treatment T6 i.e. GA3 200 ppm spray was found best with respect to minimum days required for flower initiation, number of flowers per plant, flower yield per plant.