Effect of plant spacing and foliar nutrition on growth and physiological parameters of tuberose (Polianthes tuberose L.) cultivar Prajwal

Abstract

The present investigation on the effect of plant spacing and foliar nutrition on growth and physiological parameters of tuberose (Polianthes tuberose L.) cultivar Prajwal was carried out in the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, HC&RI, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The experiment was designed following the principle of factorial randomized block design with four spacings (S1-25 x 25, S2- 15 x 20,S3- 15 x15 andS4- 45 x 20 cm) and three foliar nutrition spray (F1 -0.5% N + 0.5% ZnSO4 +0.5%FeSO4+0.1% Boric acid, F2-0.5% ZnSO4+0.5% FeSO4+ 0.1% Boric acid and F3- 0.5% ZnSO4+0.5% FeSO4)consisting of twelve treatment combinations. Each treatment was replicated thrice. The result of the present investigation revealed that among the interaction effects, the highest values was observed for plant height (47.81 cm), number of leaves per plant (40.12), number of tillers/plant (7.70), leaf length (49.50 cm), leaf area (4807.67 cm2), total chlorophyll content(1.30 mg/g), soluble protein (101.23 mg/g) and nitrate reductase activity (50.06 NO2 g-1h-1) in S4F1 (spacing of 45 x20 cm, foliar application of 0.5%N+0.5%ZnSO4+0.5%FeSO4+0.1%Boric acid) and high leaf width (2.61 cm) was recorded in S4F3 (45 x20 cm, 0.5%ZnSO4+0.5%FeSO4) and the lowest growth and physiological parameters were recorded in S3F3 (spacing of 15 x15 cm, fo;iar application of 0.5% ZnSO4+0.5% FeSO4).