Abstract

The gladiolus is a very common and famous cut flower of Nepal. It is an economically very important and commercially grown cut flower for Nepal. Dormancy plays a vital role in flower production and its market price. In order to produce flower earlier than rainy season starts and to get good market price, different dormancy breaking treatments were tested at mid hill condition of Agriculture Research Station, Pakhribas (1740 masl). The treatments were gibberellins, water treatment, smoking, scales removal, chilling in moist sand and control (without any treatment). All the treatments were replicated five times and the design was complete randomized design (CRD) for lab experiment and randomized complete block (RCB) for field experiment. After more than fifty percent shoot initiation, the corms were planted in the field for field experiment. The rooting was found earlier in corms treated with moist sand (started from 16^th day). At the 47^th day of lab experiment, highest root initiation was from chilling treatment. Same result was also obtained for shoot initiation. At 62^nd day, maximum shoot was found from chilling treatment and lowest from control treatment. Similarly, from field experiment, maximum flower size was recorded from chilling treatment followed by scales removal. In case of corm yield, highest corm yield was recorded from scales removal treatment. Thus, with these results, we can conclude that chilling corms in moist sand is the best and easy method to get early root and shoot.

Key words: Gladiolus, dormancy, rest period.