Effect of Benzyladenine and Gibberellic Acid on Dormancy Breaking, Growth and Yield of Gladiolus Corms over Different Storage Periods

A study was conducted to determine the optimum concentration of benzyladenie (BA) and gibberllic acid (GA3) to break the dormancy of gladiolus corms in relation to storage period and to find out the effect of BA and GA3 on growth and development of gladiolus corm and cormels. The effect of GA3 on dormancy breaking was most pronounced in the 100 ppm treatment being 26.93 days while in the water control took 49.60 days. Among different levels of BA, dormancy breaking was comparatively earlier by 29.60 days when treated with 50 BA. Considering storage periods, corms stored for 30 days followed by different growth regulator treatments sprouted 11.63 and 21.24 days earlier than 75 and 90 days stored corms, respectively. Corms treated with 75 ppm GA3 and stored for 90 days produced the maximum percentage of spikes (56.9%) whereas 90 days stored corms treated with 125 ppm BA produced the highest number of plants (2.41) and corms (2.50) hill-1. The corms treated with 100 ppm GA3 and stored for 90 days produced the heaviest (21.50 g and 18.82 g, respectively) and largest (4.46 cm and 4.17 cm, respectively) corms.