Comparative evaluation of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) genotypes under organic and inorganic fertilization modules

Abstract

The study was carried out at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP during 2020-2021 under polyhouse condition. The experiment comprised of fourteen genotypes of carnation and two treatments: inorganic fertilization module (Recommended Dose of Fertilizers) and organic fertilization module (Jeevamrit @ 20 ml/plant as drenching at 30 days interval). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (Factorial) with three replications. The results revealed that among the different genotypes of carnations studied the genotype ‘Bizet’ performed best in terms of plant height (96.38 cm), stem length (81.40 cm), stem sturdiness (6.17º) and number of flowers per square metre (116.00) while stem thickness was maximum in ‘UHFSCar-1’ (5.95 mm) and ‘PM-2’ (113.83) recorded the least number of days taken for bud formation. The organic fertilization module performed relatively well which suggests that organic fertilization module (jeevamrit @ 20 ml/plant as drenching at 30 days interval) can act as an alternative for chemical fertilizers in consideration to the improvement in soil health and have the potential to contribute to better financial outcomes.