Optimization of Zinc, Magnesium and Calcium on Growth and Flowering of Rhynchostylis retusa L.

Punam Saikia*, Madhumita Choudhury Talukdar and Priyanka Das

Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University Jorhat, Assam, India

*Corresponding Author: Punam Saikia, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University Jorhat, Assam, India.

Received: February 01, 2018; Published: March 14, 2018

Citation: Punam Saikia., et al. “Optimization of Zinc, Magnesium and Calcium on Growth and Flowering of Rhynchostylis retusa L. Acta Scientific Agriculture 2.4 (2018).

Abstract

  In order to assess the optimization of zinc, magnesium and calcium on growth and flowering of Rhynchostylis retusa L. an experiment was carried out in the Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, under the shade net house using CRD with three replication during 2014-15 and 2015 - 2016. The treatments viz., T ₁ (RDF + Zn 250 ppm), T₂ (RDF + Zn 500 ppm), T₃ (RDF + Zn 750 ppm), T₄ (RDF + Mg 250 ppm), T₅ (RDF + Mg 500 ppm), T₆ (RDF + Mg 1000 ppm), T₇ (RDF + Ca 250 ppm), T₈ (RDF + Ca 500 ppm), T₉ (RDF + Ca 1000 ppm) were applied as foliar spray at an interval of 15 days along with fertilizer mixture 19 NPK @ 2 gm per liter and T₁₀ (control) was sprayed only with fertilizer mixture 19 NPK. The result revealed that T₈(RDF + Ca 500 ppm) was the best treatment for increasing the growth characters viz., plant height (41.30 cm), number of leaves per plant (8.71), and leaf area per plant (1025.55 cm²) and T₃ (RDF + Zn 750 ppm) was found superior in respect of all flower characters viz. bud visibility to first floret open (79.16 days), full bloom (83.84 days), spike length (42.22 cm), floret diameter (3.50 cm), number of florets per spike (89.34), number of spike per plant (4.08), self-life (16.54 days) and vase life (11.48 days).

Keywords: Calcium; Growth; Flowering; Magnesium; Rhynchostylis retusa L.; Zinc

Copyright: © 2018 Punam Saikia., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.