Effect of Gibberellic Acid, Spacing and Nutrient Sprays on Growth and Flowering in Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus L.) cv. Rocket Pink

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different concentrations of gibberellic acid, spacing and nutrient sprays on vegetative and floral parameters of snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus cv. Rocket Pink) at Urban Technological Park, Habak, Srinagar, J&K, India during two successive years in 2017and 2018. Eighteen different treatments with 3 concentrations of gibberellic acid (0 ppm, 100 ppm and 200 ppm), 2 spacings (15 cm x 15 cm and 15 cm x 20 cm) and nutrient sprays (3 sprays, 4 sprays and 5 sprays) were replicated thrice in Completely Randomized Block Design. The investigation revealed that gibberellic acid at 200 ppm proved best among all in vegetative including height (91.07 cm), number of primary branches (4.11) and number of leaves (174.60) as well as in floral parameters including days to first inflorescence initiation (47.77), days to first inflorescence opening (50.81), days to 50% flowering (54.30), length of flower stalk (45.91 cm), length of inflorescence (38.80 cm), number of spikes per plant (7.72), number of florets per spike (22.35), number of fully developed florets (5.17), duration of flowering (52.62 days) and vase life (13.00 days).  Spacing of 15 cm x 15 cm proved better in terms of height (85.23 cm) in vegetative parameters and length of flower stalk (43.81 cm) and length of inflorescence (37.65 cm) in floral parameters while spacing of 15 cm x 20 cm proved better in number of primary branches (3.64) and number of leaves (170.68) as well as days to first inflorescence initiation (49.49), days to first inflorescence opening (52.33), days to 50% flowering (55.42), number of florets per spike (17.64), number of fully developed florets (4.47), duration of flowering (50.75 days) and vase life (10.71 days). Among different nutrient sprays application of 5 sprays proved best in all vegetative including height (87.06 cm), number of primary branches (4.26) and number of leaves (182.92) and floral parameters including length of flower stalk (42.88 cm), length of inflorescence (36.18 cm), number of spikes per plant (7.80), number of florets per spike (19.21), number of fully developed florets (4.67), duration of flowering (52.26 days) and vase life (10.92 days). While minimum days to first inflorescence initiation (49.05), first inflorescence opening (51.89) and 50% flowering were obtained by 3 nutrient sprays.