DefinePK

Abstract

Gladiolus is commercially propagated through corms and occurrence of dormancy in freshly harvested corms creates hindrance in their cultivation. Present study was designed to compare the effect of different chemicals to alleviate the dormancy of corms in a short time. Gladiolus corms were collected from two growing sites and subjected to chemicals methanol, benzylaminopurine (BAP), gibberellic acid (GA3), indole acetic acid (IAA), salicylic acid, potassium nitrate and thiourea at different concentrations alone or in combinations. The treated corms were planted on sand and placed under dark conditions at 26°C. The treatment of 60% methanol in combination with 0.9 mM BAP showed maximum germination (72.71%). Descaled corms showed 85% germination compared to 60.42% scaled corms, while the corms collected from Faisalabad showed better germination 83.75% compared to corms from Rawalakot (61.67%). The application of 60% methanol also induced 29.65% and 42.43% deterioration in scaled and descaled corms, respectively. The treatments of 0.3 mM BAP in combination with 0.6 mM GA3 exhibited 88.33 % germination in corms collected from Faisalabad as compared to 55% in corms from Rawalakot. Overall, application of BAP and GA3 in combination was found effective in shortening the period of dormancy in both cultivars of gladiolus compared to other tested chemicals or growth regulators