Cultivar Effects on Growth, Yield and Cormel Production of Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.)

Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.), a popular bulbous cut flower, has high demand in both domestic (Pakistani) as well as international markets. Five potential, exotic cultivars of gladiolus, ‘Cantate’, ‘Corveira’, ‘Eminence’, ‘Essential’ and ‘Fado’ were evaluated to determine the cultivar effects on yield and quality, to compare their relative performance and recommend their suitability for commercial production. Among the tested cultivars, ‘Essential’ performed best for early spike emergence (74.2 d), greater number of leaves plant-1 (8.8), number of florets spike-1 (13.9), spike length (46.8 cm), spike diameter (1.0 cm), vase life (14.3 d), cormel diameter (0.7 cm) and average weight of a cormel (0.3 g). ‘Corveira’ ranked second for most of the above mentioned growth and yield indices. Earlier sprouting (4.6 d), and higher number of cormels clump-1 (283.0) was recorded in ‘Fado’, while leaf area and stem length was greater in ‘Cantate’, (98.6 cm2 and 84.7 cm, respectively). ‘Eminence’ ‘Cantate’ and ‘Corveira’ had higher total leaf chlorophyll contents (0.2 mg g-1 each), while ‘Eminence’ took longer time for spike emergence (103.5 d) among all tested cultivars. In summary, ‘Essential’ followed by ‘Corveira’ and ‘Fado’ performed better than ‘Eminence’ and ‘Cantate’. Therefore, growers may consider selection of these cultivars with improved yield and quality characteristics for commercial production.