T. Vetrivel, V. Lakshmanan and M. Jawaharlal
Abstract
An investigation was carried out with twelve varieties of gladiolus (Gladiolus spp. L) at the Horticultural Research Station, Yercaud during 2009 2010 for yield and quality. Among the twelve varieties, the variety Sapna showed earliness in spike emergence (65.1 days) followed by the Arka Kesar (65.4 days), while it was late in the variety Pssittacinus Hybrid (97.7 days). The variety Arka Kesar showed earliness in first floret opening (74.5 days) followed by the Sapna (77.5 days), while the variety Pssittacinus Hybrid exhibited 113.2 days. The variety Tilak recorded a higher value (107.4 cm) for longer spikes followed by Arka Kesar (96.2 cm) and Sapna (85.5 cm). More number of florets per spike was recorded in the variety Arka Kesar (20.7), followed by Sapna (18.9) and Shobha (15.1). Variety Tilak produced large sized flowers (10.6 cm), followed by Shobha (9.7 cm), and minimum in the variety Dr.Flemming (6.8 cm). Among the varieties the vase life was maximum in the variety Arka Kesar (11.4 days), followed by Sapna (10.4 days), Darshan (7.7 days) and Sagar (7.6 days).