Influence of growth regulators on growth, flowering, yield and quality attributes of Crossandra [Crossandra infundibuliformis (L.) Nees.] under the northern dry zone of Karnataka
Author(s): Srinivasulu GB, Mukund Shiragur, Raghavendra Achari, CG Yadav, Chandan K and Pavankumar K
Abstract: The study was carried out to determine the effect of growth regulators on growth, flowering, yield, and quality parameters of Crossandra [Crossandra infundibuliformis (L.) Nees.]. Randomised Completely Block Design (RCBD) was used to conduct the experiment with 9 treatments of plant growth regulators viz., GA3 (150, 200 ppm), NAA (150, 200 ppm), BAP (10, 20 ppm) and Humic acid (150, 200 ppm). The application of growth regulators influenced significantly for growth, flowering, and yield parameters among the treatments. Among the growth parameters at 60, 90 and 120 DAT, the highest plant height was observed with the application of GA3 at 200 ppm (32.31 cm, 43.85 cm and 51.85 cm), which was on par with the application of GA3 at 150 ppm (31.35 cm, 41.43 cm and 48.35 cm). In contrast, minimum plant height was recorded with untreated control plants (19.35 cm, 25.83 cm and 38.83 cm). The application of GA3 at 200 ppm recorded the maximum number of primary (16.21) and secondary branches per plant (27.33). Plant spread NS (35.92), EW (48.86), and it was on par with GA3 at 150 ppm number of branches primary (15.38), secondary (24.15) and plant spread in NS (32.62) and EW direction (46.92). Similarly, for flowering and yield traits, the first spike initiation occurred as early as 80.25 days, days taken for 50% flowering (90.15), days taken to first harvest (83.25) were significantly lower and duration of flowering (30.40), number of flowers per spike (29.65), number of spikes per plant (117.25), spike length (8.58 cm), weight of 100 flowers (6.89 g), flower yield per plant (136.45 g), flower yield per plot (2.28 kg) and flower yield per hectare (3164.64 kg) were found to be significantly higher with the application of GA3 @ 200 ppm. For quality parameters, maximum corolla length (28.32 mm) and flower diameter (28.64 mm) were observed with GA3 @ 200 ppm. From the results, the application of GA3 @ 200 ppm was superior in growth, flowering, yield and quality attributing parameters compared to other treatments used in the study.
