Gladiolus is very popular bulbous flowering plantgrown throughout the world. It is native to tropicaland southern Africa and belongs to family Iridaceac.

Gladiolus with its long flower spikes having rich variations ofcolours and long vase life has ever increasing demand in theflower market. Vermicompost act as valuable organic manureand it is higher in content as compare to usual rural compost.Among biocontrol agents, Trichoderma harzianum,Pseudmonas fluorescens and Bacillus sultilis occupysignificant place for their antagonistic property againstFusariun oxysporum f. sp. gladioli causing Fusarium wilt ofgladiolus. Beneficial effect of organic manure and biocontrolagents has been well documented in various horticulturalcrops. Effect of vermicompost and biocontrol agents ongrowth and flowering of gladiolus has been reported earlier(Mishra and Mukhopadhyay, 2000; Sharma and Chandel, 2003;Bhalla et al., 2006; Dongardive et al., 2007.) In view of the

Members of the Research Forum

Associated Authors:1Department of Horticulture,Institute of Agricultural Sciences,Banaras Hindu University,VARANASI (U.P.) INDIA

HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE

above background, the present study was undertaken ingladiolus with the objective to find out the effect ofvermicompost and biocontrol agents on growth and floweringof gladiolus cv. J.V. GOLD.

RESEARCH METHODSThe present experiment was carried out at Horticulture

Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Institute ofAgricultural Sciences, B.H.U., Varanasi during November 2010-May 2011. The soil of experiment field was alluvial loam. Theexperiment was conducted on gladiolus cv. J.V. GOLD with 12treatment combinations consisted of Control, Trichodermaharzianum, Pseudomanas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis,Vermicompost, Trichoderma + Pseudomonas, Trichoderma+ Baciluls, Trichoderma + vermicompost, Pseudomonas +Bacillus, Pseudomonas + vermicompost, Bacillus +vermicompost and Trichoderma + Pseudomonas + Bacillus

Effect of vermicompost and bio-control agents on growthand flowering of gladiolus cv. J.V. GOLD

AMIT PANDEY1, ANIL K. SINGH AND ANJANA SISODIA1

Article history :Received : 27.08.2012Revised : 27.02.2013Accepted : 11.03.2013

Author for correspondence :ANIL K. SINGHDepartment of Horticulture, Instituteof Agricultural Sciences, BanarasHindu University, VARANASI(U.P.) INDIAEmail : anilksingh_hort@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT : A field experiment on gladiolus was carried out to see the influence of vermicompost andvarious bio-control agents on growth and flowering attributes. Treatment consisted of control, Trichodermaharzianum, Pseudomanas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis, Vermicompost, Trichoderma + Pseudomonas,Trichoderma + Bacillus, Trichoderma + vermicompost, Pseudomonas + Bacillus, Pseudomonas +vermicompost, Bacillus + vermicompost and Trichoderma + Pseudomonas + Bacillus + vermicompost.Experiment was laid out in a Randomised Block Design with three replications at Horticulture ResearchFarm, B.H.U, Varanasi. Early sprouting was recorded with Bacillus subtilis. Maximum number ofsprouts and leaves per plant was observed with Trichoderma harzianum + vermicompost. Whereas,treatment T. harzianum + P. fluorescens + B. subtilis + vermicompost registered maximum length of leaf,plant height, length of spike and duration of flowering. Application B. subtilis + vermicompost registeredmaximum fresh and dry weight of leaf, early spike emergence and diameter of fifth floret. Early colourshow and floret opening were recorded with T. harzianum + B. subtilis. However, maximum number offlorets per spike was recorded with P. fluorescens + B. subtilis. It is interesting to note that applicationof various bio-control agents alone or in combination and vermicompost was found beneficial to improveplant growth and various flowering attributes.

KEY WORDS : Gladiolus, Vermicompost, Bio-control agents, Growth, Flowering

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE : Pandey, Amit, Singh, Anil K. and Sisodia, Anjana (2013). Effect of vermicompostand bio-control agents on growth and flowering of gladiolus cv. J.V. GOLD, Asian J. Hort., 8(1) : 46-49.

THEASIAN JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE

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+ vermicompost. Uniform and healthy corms having 4.5 cmdiameter were selected for study. Corms were treated withvarious bio-control agents, whereas vermicompost wasapplied in the field and mixed properly. Experiment was laidout in a Randomised Block Design with three replications.Standard cultural practices were followed to grow successfulcrop. Observations on growth and flowering parameters wererecorded was subjected to analysis of variance.

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONDate presented in Table 1 shows that minimum days

(9.00) to sprouting was recorded with treatment Bacillussubtilis which was statistically at par with Trichodermaharzianum (9.33 days), Trichoderma + Bacillus +vermicompost (9.67 days) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (10.00days) and significant to other treatments. Maximum days takenfor sprouting with treatments T. harzianum + P. fluroscensand P. fluorescens + B. subtilis in which it took 12.67 days.The maximum number of sprouts per hill (2.83) was recordedwith treatment T. harzianum + vermicompost which wasstatistically at par with P. fluorescens + vermicompost (2.80)and significant to control, T. harzianum and vermicomposttreatments. Maximum length of longest leaf (49.67 cm) wasrecorded with Trichoderma + Pseudomonas + Bacillus +Vermicompost followed by P. fluorescens + vermicompost(49.33 cm) and Bacillus + vermicompost (48.67 cm). However,control recorded the minimum length of longest leaf (38.00cm). Maximum width of longest leaf (3.35 cm) was recordedwith P. fluorescens + vermicompost followed by B. subtilis +vermicompost. This treatment was found significant to controland T. harzianum + Pseudomonas treatments. However, theminimum width of longest leaf (2.72 cm) was recorded with T.harzianum + P. fluorescens treatment. Maximum number ofleaves per plant (19.11) was recorded with T. harzianum +vermicompost which were statistically at par with T. harzianum+ P. fluorescens + B subtilis + vermicompost, Trichodermaharzianum, T. harzianum + Bacillus and significant to othertreatments. However, minimum number of leaves per plantwas recorded with control (15.44). Maximum plant height (98.00cm) was recorded with T. harzianum + P. fluorescens + B.subtilis + vermicompost which was statistically at par with B.subtilis + vermicompost (96.33 cm) and P. fluorescens +vermicompost (94.67 cm) and significant to other treatments.Minimum value was found with T. harzianum + P. fluorescens(84.67 cm). Maximum fresh weight of leaf was found withPseudomonas fluorescens (3.59 g) followed by B. subtilis +vermicompost significant to control and T. harzianumtreatments. Maximum dry weight of leaves was found with B.subtilis + vermicompost (0.61 g) which was statistically at parwith vermicompost (0.59 g) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (0.56g), however, minimun dry weight of leaf (0.36 g) was recordedwith control. Application of various bio-control agents andvermicompost probably found effective to control diseases

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like fusarium wilt and corm rot and augumented some role toenhance plant growth. These results are in close conformitywith those obtained by Mohamed and Gomaa (2000), Sharmaand Chandel (2003) and Dubey et al. (2008).

Data presented in Table 2 shows that treatment Bacillus+ vermicompost was found best for resulting early initiationof spike (77.00 days) which was statistically at par withPseudomonas + Bacillus (77.11 days), Trichodermaharzianum (77.44 days), Trichoderma + Bacillus (77.67 days),however, Trichoderma + Pseudomas took maximum days toinitiate spike (81.11 days). The earliest colour show (90.22days) was observed with treatment T. harzianum + B. subtiliswhich was statistically at par with control (91.78 days), B.subtilis + vermicompost 5 kg (92.00 days), Trichodermaharzianum (92.67 days) and P. fluorescens + B. subtilis (92.67days), whereas T. harzianum + P. fluorescens was late in showcolour (97.67 days). The earliest opening of first floret (93.67days) was observed with treatment T. harzianum + B. subtilis(93.67 days) followed by B. subtilis + vermicompost (94.66days) and control (95.56 days), however, T. harzianum + P.fluorescens was resulted in late opening of first floret (101.44days). Maximum length of spike (71.33 cm) was recorded withtreatment T. harzianum + P. fluorescens + B. subtilis +vermicompost 5 kg followed by B. subtilis + vermicompost(68.87 cm), however, T. harzianum + P. fluorescens recordedthe minimum length of spike. Maximum number of florets perspike was observed with P. fluorescens + B. subtilis (14.77)followed by T. harzianom + B. subtilis (13.89) and Trichodermaharzianum (13.33), however, minimum number of florets perspike was recorded with T. harzianum + P. fluorescens (11.52)followed by control (11.56).

Maximum diameter of first floret was observed withPseudomonas fluorescens (8.63 cm) which was statistically atpar with P. fluorescens + B. subtilis (8.54 cm) however,minimum diameter (7.93 cm) was found with control. Maximumdiameter of fifth floret was observed with B. subtilis +vermicompost 5 kg (9.02 cm) which was statistically at parwith P. fluorescence + B. subtilis (8.82 cm) and Pseudomonasfluorescens (8.64 cm)whereas, minimum diameter of fifth floretwas recorded with control (7.00 cm). Maximum duration offlowering (13.11 days) was observed with T. harzianum +P.fluorescens + B. subtilis + vermicompost 5 kg followed byvermicompost 5 kg (12.33 days), P. fluorescens + vermicompost(12.22 days), however, minimum duration of flowering wasrecorded with control (9.55 days).Various flowering parametersinfluenced by application of bio-control agent either alone orin combination or along with vermicompost. This spectaculareffect might be due to healthy plants treated with bio-controlagents which reduced disease incidence, increased plantgrowth and ultimately resulted into increased spike length,flower size, more number of florets and other attributes.Beneficial effect at bio-control agent in gladiolus has beendocumented by earlier workers (Mishra and Mukhopadhyay,

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2000 and Sharma and Chandel, 2003). Similar findings weremade by Dubey et al. (2008) in gladiolus, who revealed thatmaximum spike length (67.89 cm), maximum number of floretsper spike (14.03), maximum floret diameter (11.05 cm) andmaximum flowering duration (12.28 days) were obtained withTrichoderma inoculated to soil and corm of gladiolus.

REFERENCESBhalla, Rajesh, Dhiman, P.K. and Jain, S.R. (2006). Effect ofbiofertilizers and biostimulants on growth and flowering in gladiolus.J. Orna. Hort., 9 (4): 248-252.

Dongardive, S.B., Golliwar, V.J. and Bhongle, S.A. (2007). Effectof organic manure and biofertilizers on growth and flowering ingladiolus cv. WHITE PROSPERITY. Plant Archives, 7 (2): 657-658.

Dubey R.K., Kumar, Pankaj and Singh, Narinder (2008). Effectof Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens on growth andflowering of gladiolus. Indian J. Ecol., 35 (1): 97-98.

Gupta, Puvinder., Dhaka, N.R. and Rajwal, V.K. (2008). Effect ofdifferent levels of vermicompost, NPK and FYM on performance ofgladiolus. Asian J. Hort., 3 (1): 142-143.

Mishra P.K. and Mukhopadhyay, A.N. (2000). Integrated andbiological control of gladiolus corm rot and wilt caused by Fusariumoxysporum f. sp. gladioli. Ann. Appl. Biol., 137 (3): 361-364.

Mohamed, F.G. and Gomaa, A.O. (2000). Effect of some bioagentsand agricultural chemicals on Fusarium wilt incidence and growthcharacters of gladiolus plants. Ann. Agric. Sci., 38 (2): 883-906.

Sharma, S.N. and Chandel, S.S. (2003). Screening of biocontrolagents in vitro against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli and theirmas-multiplication on different organic substances. Plant DiseaseRes., 18 (2): 135-138.

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