Vol. 9, Special Issue 10, Part I (2025)

An experiment entitled performance studies on dracaena for morphological attributes under hill zone of Karnataka was carried out at the experimental block of Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, College of Horticulture, Mudigere, under Keladi Shivappa Nayaka University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga during 2024-2025. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with thirteen treatments viz., T₁ - Dracaena reflexa, T₂ - Dracaena warneckii, T₃ - Dracaena sanderiana, T₄ - Dracaena marginata “Green”, T₅ - Dracaena marginata “Red”, T₆ - Dracaena terminalis “Mahatma”, T₇ - Dracaena terminalis “Green”, T₈ - Dracaena massangeana, T₉ - Dracaena fragrans, T₁₀ - Dracaena surculosa “Gold dust”, T₁₁ - Dracaena terminalis “My Darling Yellow”, T₁₂ - Dracaena deremensis “Limelight” and T₁₃ - Cordyline fruticosa, each replicated thrice. The results revealed that Dracaena terminalis “Mahatma” recorded the maximum plant height (119.60 cm), plant spread in E-W (75.10 cm) and N-S (78.50 cm) directions, internodal length (4.13 cm), leaf length (46.26 cm), leaf width (9.26 cm), leaf area per plant (9798.66 cm²), leaf area index per plant (15.66), petiole length (12.60 cm), chlorophyll a (0.99 mg/g fresh weight), chlorophyll b (0.56 mg/g fresh weight), total chlorophyll (1.55 mg/g fresh weight) and carotenoid content (0.27 mg/g fresh weight). The study indicated that Dracaena terminalis “Mahatma” was the most promising species for its morphological growth attributes under hill zone of Karnataka.