Synergistic Effects of Plant Population and Foliar Application of GA3 on Growth and Flowering Performance of Cocksflower

Abstract

Accurate optimization of plant population and foliar application doses of growth regulators like GA3 can play a crucial role in enhancing growth and flower dynamics of flowering plants under different climate scenarios. An experiment was conducted to investigate how different plant populations and foliar applications of GA3 at different concentrations influenced the vegetative growth performance and flowering performance of cocksflower. The experiment followed a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications and consisted of two factors. Factor A: Three levels of plant population: P1: 12 plants plot-1 (160,000 plants ha-1), P2: 15 plants plot-1 (200,000 plants ha-1), P3: 18 plants plot-1 (240,000 plants ha-1) and Factor B: G0 = 0 ppm GA3, G1 = 50 ppm GA3, G2 = 100 ppm GA3, and G3 = 150 ppm GA3, respectively. Plant population and GA3 levels resulted significant variations for most of the parameters. P1G2 consistently showed superior growth across all stages. It recorded the tallest plants (33.16, 53.15, and 69.12 cm), the longest stems (13.28, 20.81, and 35.52 cm), and the longest spikes (9.18, 14.75, and 25.09 cm), highest spikelet numbers (2.46, 3.46, and 4.53 per spike), at 15, 30, and 45 DAT, respectively confirming its overall growth advantage. P1G2 produced the highest spikes per plant with 8.40, and this supported 100.80 spikes per plot and 1344000 spikes per hectare. The results demonstrated that optimum plant population and GA3 usage of 100 ppm by foliar application give better results for growth and flowering performance of cocksflower.