Standardization of soilless growth media for raising potted ornamental foliage plants for export purpose
Keywords:
Soilless media, potted ornamental foliage plants, aglaonemaAbstract
An investigation was carried out at Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, College of Agriculture Vellanikkara to standardize a suitable soilless medium for growing ornamental foliage plants intended for export. Popular herbaceous foliage plant Aglaonema commutatum var. ‘Silver Frost’ was used for the study. The experiment consisted of five potting media (volume by volume basis) viz.,T1: cocopeat (70%) + rice husk (10%) + vermicompost (10% ) + sand (10%), T2: cocopeat (50%) + rice husk (25%) + vermicompost (15%) + sand (10%), T3: cocopeat (50%) + biochar (25%) + vermicompost (15%) + sand (10%), T4: cocopeat (25%) + biochar (25%) + vermicompost (25%) + sand (15%) + perlite (10%) and T5 : cocopeat (50%) + vermicompost (20%) + perlite (15%) + vermiculite (15%), laid out in completely randomized block design with four replications. As per the recommended grades and standards for potted foliage plants (FMA and FNGA, 1994), Aglaonema commutatum in eight inch pot should have a height and spread of 16’’- 20" (40.64 cm to 50.80 cm) and number of suckers should be 6 – 12. In the present study, the medium (T5) consisting of cocopeat (50%), vermicompost (20%), perlite (15%) and vermiculite (15%) was found to satisfy all these quality parameters and it was also light in weight with high water holding capacity (178.50%), low bulk density(0.35g/cm3) and high porosity(79.53%). Hence this can be recommended as a suitable medium for export of potted ornamental foliage plants.References
Reference
Basheer, S. N. and Thekkayam, S. G. 2012. Effect of growing media and organic nutrition on vegetative growth in Anthurium plants (Anthurium andreanum cv.tropical), Asian J. Hort., 7(2): 354-358.
Chen, J. and McConnell, D. B. 2002. Compost‐formulated media for foliage plant production, Gainesville, Fl: Florida Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida.
FMA and FNGA [Floral marketing association and Florida nursery men and growers association], 1994. Recommended grades and standards for foliage plants. 1994. Floral marketing association [FMA, 1994], Newark, Delaware.170p. Available at: http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no95002032. [18. Aug. 2020].
Ikram, S., Habib, U., and Khalid, N. 2012. Effect of different potting media combinations on growth and vase life of tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa Linn.). Pak. J. Agri. Sci., 49(2): 121-125.
Kavipriya, M.V., Sankari, A., and Jegadeswari, D. 2019. Studies on the effect of alternate media on growth of “Dracaena reflexa ‘variegata’. Int. J. Curr. Microbiol. App. Sci., 8(2): 3394-3400.
Khayyat, M., Nazari F., and Salehi, H. 2007. Effects of different pot mixtures on Pothos (Epipremnum aureum Lindl. and Andre ‘Golden Pothos’) growth and development. Am-Euras. J. Agric. & Environ. Sci., 2 (4): 341-348.
Moghadam, A. R. L., Ardebili, Z. O., and Saidi, F. 2012. Vermicompost induced changes in growth and development of Lilium asiaticum hybrid var. Navona. Afr. J. Agric. Res., 7(17): 2609-2621.
Nair, S. A. and Bharathi, T.U. 2015. Influence of potting media composition on pot mum production. The biosean., 10(1): 73-76.
Olosunde, O. M., Adeleke, A. M., Amusat, A. S., and Ogundiran, O. B. 2015. Growth response of Dracaena fragrans and Cordyline terminalis to growing medium. Int. J. Tropical Agrl., 33(1): 41-46.
Sandeep, K., Fatmi, U., Talang, D., and Priyatham, K. 2018. Effect of potting media on growth and development in different species of Nephrolepis fern under shade net conditions (N. falcata, N. cardifolia duffi, N. multifolia). J. Pharmacognosy and Phytochem., 7(5): 3006-3009.
Swetha, S., Padmalatha, T., Rao, K. D., and Shankar, A. S. 2014. Effect of potting media on growth and quality in Aglaonema. J. Hortl. Sci., 9(1):90-93.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright © 2001-11 Kerala Agricultural University. Some rights reserved. This journal and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Kerala Agricultural University and the following terms and conditions apply to their use; Photocopying Single photocopies of single articles may be made for personal use as allowed by national copyright laws. Permission of the publisher and payment of a fee is required for all other photocopying including multiple or systematic copying, copying for advertising or promotional purposes, resale, and all forms of document delivery. Permission may be sought directly from the Editor, Journal of Tropical Agriculture, Department of Agronomy, College of Horticulture,, Kerala Agricultural University, KAU PO, Thrissur 680 656, Kerala, India. (Phone: +91-487-2438325; Fax +91-487-2371040; E-mail: editor.jta@kau.in. Derivative works Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institution. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution. Permission of the Publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products, liability, negligence, or otherwise, or from any use of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein.