INFLUENCE OF ORGANIC AMENDMENTS AND BIO-CONTROL AGENT ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF GERBERA

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, during the period from December 2019 to July 2020 to study the influence of organic amendments and bio-control agent on growth and yield of gerbera. The single factor experiment consisted of five treatments namely: T 1 = Farmyard manure (3 t/ha) + ¼ RDF, T 2 = Vermicompost (3 t/ha) + ¼ RDF, T 3 = Trichocompost (3 t /ha) + ¼ RDF, T 4 = Tricholeachate (3000 L/ha) + ¼ RDF and T 5 = Control (Recommended doses of fertilizers: N 150 P 30 K 100 S 20 B 1 kg/ha). The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Application of organic manure, chemical fertilizer and bio-control agent showed significant variations on most of the parameters. Result revealed that maximum vegetative and flowering characters were recorded in T 3 = Trichocompost (3 t/ha) + ¼ RDF which were statistically superior to other treatments. T 3 produced maximum plant height, number of leaves per plant, plant spread and number of suckers per plant. Days taken to flower bud initiation and full bloom from bud open varied greatly among cultivars under the study. T 3 took least number of days for bud initiation (68.33 days) and full bloom (7.15 days) respectively. For flower characteristics, T 3 showed the maximum number of ray floret (48.0), the longest flower stalk (57.11 cm), maximum flowers per plant (12.70) and possessed the longest vase life (14.67 days). The largest flower diameter (10.78 cm) was found in T 3

and the smallest was in T 5 (8.07 cm). Considering the important characteristics, the data obtained from the experiment showed that trichocompost with fertilizer enhanced qualitative and quantitative characters of gerbera.