INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, SOCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

ISSN: 2309-7892, Volume: 2, Issue: 1, Page: 64-67, July-September, 2014

Invited Paper
EVALUATE THE CORM SIZE ON GROWTH, FLOWERING AND CORM
CORM EL YIELD OF GLADIOLUS (Gladiolus grandiflorus)

S. Tahmina, M. R. Amin, M. F. J. Joya, H. Mehraj and A. F. M. Ja mal Uddin*1

S. Tahmina, M. R. Amin, M. F. J. Joy a, H. Mehraj and A. F. M. Jamal Uddin (2014). Evaluate the Corm Size on Growth,
Flowering and Corm Cormel Yield of Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus). Int. J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Res. 2(1): 64-67. Retrieve from
http://www.ijbssr.com/currentissueview/14013049

Received Date: 18/07/2014 Acceptance Date: 17/08/2014 Published Date: 18/08/2014

Abstract
An experiment was conducted at Horticulture farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University,
Bangladesh to evaluate the effect o f cor m size on growth and flowering of gladiolus. Experiment
consisted three different sized corm viz. C1= Small size corm (11-20 g); C2= Medium size corm
(21-30 g); C3= Large size corm (31-40 g). Maximum number o f leaves (11.3), number of
floret/spike (15.9), spike/plot (21.8), tallest plant (76.3 cm), longest flower stalk (69.3 cm) and
rachis (36.3 cm) at harvest were found from C3 . Ma ximu m cor m (7.0 c m, 25.1 g, 2.3 cm and 1.2
kg for thickness, weight, diameter and yield/plot respectively) and cormel (25.3, 14.6 g, 1.5 cm
and 1.1 kg for number/plant, weight, diameter and yield/plot respectively) production was found
from C3 whereas minimum from C1.

Key words: Stress, Occupational stress, Individual difference.

Introduction
Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) belongs to Iridaceae family, is one of the most attractive and
popular cut flower. Gladiolus was introduced in Bangladesh from India around year 1992 (Mollah et al.,
2002). Income from gladiolus flower production gives six times returns than rice (Momin, 2006). Corm
size affects on gladiolus production (Mohanty, 1994). Number of florets/spike, spike length, rachis
length, flower quality, corm and cormel production were found related to corm size (Bhattacharj ee,
2010). Plant raised from large size corm had tallest plant, longest spike and rachis, maximum number of
floret/spike, heaviest corm and m aximum number of cormels/plant (Sudhakar and Kumer, 2012). Large
corms (4.6-50 cm in diam eter) produce more flowers, corm and cormel (Mukhopadhyay and Yadav,
1984). So there is a scope of increasing flower yield, quality of flower, corm and corm el production of
gladiolus with the appropriat e size of corm. Considering these facts the present investigation was
undertaken with the objectives to find out the suitable corm size for growth, flowering and yield o f
gladiolus.
Materials and Methods
A fi eld experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangl a Agricultural University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh from November, 2011 to June, 2012 to find out the effect of corm si ze on growth,
flowering and yield of gladiolus. Experiment consisted three different corm size viz. C1 = Small size corm
(11-20 g); C 2 = Medium size corm (21-30 g); C 3 = Large si ze corm (31-40 g) following Randomized
Complete Block Design with three replications. Yellow colored gladiolus was us ed on the experiment.
The unit plot size was 1 m × 0.75 m. The corm was planted into the soil maintaining row to row distance
at 25 cm and plant to plant distance at 20 cm. There were 15 plants containing in each plot. Cowdung (10
t/ha), urea (200 kg/ha), TSP (200 kg/ha) and MP (200 kg/ha) were applied. The entire amounts of
cowdung, TSP and MP were applied during the final l and preparation. Urea was applied in three equal
installments at 15, 30 and 45 days after planting (BARI, 2002). Five plants were randomly selected from
middle of the each unit of plot for data collection. Collected data were statistically analyzed using
MSTAT-C computer package program and mean was calculated. The significance of the difference
among the treatment combinations means was estimated by the Ducan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at
5% level of probability (Gomez and Gomez, 1984).
Results and Discussion
Plant height: Tallest plant was found from large corm (C 3 ; 76.3 cm) while shortest from small corm (C 1 ;
68.6 cm) at 80 days after planting (DAP) (Fig. 1a). The results indicated that large corm produced tallest
plant height with ensuring the nutri ent elem ents adequately for newly emergence plants. Bhat et al.

*Corresponding Authors Email: jamal4@yahoo.com

Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University , Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
Evaluate the Corm Size 65

(2009), Singh (2000), Mohanty et al. (1994), Banker and Mukhopadhyay (1980) obtained similar
findings from their earlier experiment.
Number of leaves per plant: Maximum number of leaves per pl ant was found from C 3 (11.3) while
minimum from C 1 (9.0) (Fig. 1b). Generally large size corm ensures the nutrient elem ent adequately
which is the ultimate result in increased number of leaves. Similar results were also reported by Mohanty
et al. (1994), Gowda (1987) and Bhat et al. (2009).

80.0 13.0
Plant height (cm).

Number of leaves.
60.0 9.0

40.0 5.0
.

a) b)
20.0 1.0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Days after planting (DAP) Days after planting (DAP)

C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3
Fig 1. Effect of corm size on a) plant height and b) number of leaves at different days after planting

Days required to 80% spike emergence: Maximum days required for 80% emergence of spike was found
from C 1 (95.9) and minimum from C 3 (90.0) (Table 1). Large size corm initially helps the plant for
growth and development with supplying storage nutrients in the corm which is the ultimate result of
minimum days for 50% and 8% em ergence of spike. Similar findings were also found by Bhat et al.
(2009).
Length of spike at harvest: Longest spike was recorded from C 3 (69.3 cm) and shortest from C 1 (60.8cm)
at harvest (Table 1). This might be due to the higher amount of stored food material from large corm.
Similar results were also reported by Dod et al. (1989) and Bhattacharjee (1981).
Length of rachis at harvest: Longest rachis was obtained from C 3 (36.3 cm) and shortest from C 1 (31.3
cm) at harvest (Table 1). This might be due to the higher amount of stored food material in the large
corm which resulted in better vegetative and reproductive growth of the pl ant. Similar findings were
found by Mollah et al. (1995).
Number of floret/spike: Maximum number of floret/spike was found from C 3 (15.9) while minimum
from C 1 (11.6) (Table 1). Similar results were also reported by Bhat et al. (2009), Singh K. P. (2000),
Kalasareddi et al. (1997) and Ko et al. (1994).
Number of spike/plot: Maximum number of spike/plot was found from C 3 (21.8) and minimum from C 1
(18.9) (Table 1).
Number of spike/ha (‘000): Maximum number of spike was found from C 3 (290.7/ha) while minimum
from C 1 (251.6/ha) (Table 1). Kalasareddi et al. (1997) reported large corm increased number of spike.

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Tahmina et al. 66

Table 1. Effect of corm size on different growth and flowering parameters and spike yield of gladiolus
Days required At harvest, length of Number of
Treatments to 80% spike flower stalk rachis floret spike spike /ha
emergence (cm) (cm) /spike /plot ('000)
C1 95.9 a 60.8 c 31.3 c 11.6 c 18.9 c 251.6 c
C2 93.0 b 65.3 b 34.2 b 14.2 b 20.4 b 272.0 b
C3 90.0 c 69.3 a 36.3 a 15.9 a 21.8 a 290.7 a
LSD0.05 2.0 2.2 1.7 0.8 0.8 11.0
CV% 5.9 4.5 6.8 7.3 5.3 5.3
In a column mean values having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar
letter(s) di ffer significantly as per 0.05 level of significance

Individual corm thickness: Maximum individual corm thickness was found from C 3 (7.0 cm) while
minimum from C 1 (6.1 cm) (Table 2). This might be due to the higher amount of stored food materi als in
the large corm which resulted in better vegetative and reproductive growth of the plant. Similar findings
were found by Mollah et al. (1995).
Individual corm weight: Maximum individual corm weight was found from C 3 (25.1 g) while minimum
from C 1 (21.2 g) (Table 2). Similar results were also reported by Bhat et al (2009).
Individual corm diameter: Maximum individual corm diameter was found from C 3 (2.3 cm) while
minimum from C 1 (1.9 cm) (Table 2).
Corm yield/plot: Maximum corm yield was found from C 3 (1.2 kg /plot) while minimum from C 1 (0.9
kg/plot) (Table 2). Similar results were also reported by Bhat et al. (2009).
Corm yield/hectare: Maximum corm yield was found from C 3 (15.7 t/ha) while minimum from C 1 (12.5
t/ha) (Table 2). Similar findings were also reported by Bhat et al. (2009).
Table 2. Effect of corm size on corm production of gladiolus
Weight of Diameter of
Thickness of Yield of corm Yield of corm
Corm sizes individual corm individual corm
corm (cm) (kg/plot) (t/ha)
(g) (cm)
C1 6.1 c 21.2 c 1.9 c 0.9 c 12.2 c
C2 6.5 b 23.5 b 2.0 b 1.0 b 14.0 b
C3 7.0 a 25.1 a 2.3 a 1.2 a 15.7 a
LSD0.05 0.3 1.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
CV% 5.7 6.2 4.5 6.6 5.3
In a column mean values having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar
letter(s) di ffer significantly as per 0.05 level of significance

Weight of cormel: Maximum individual corm weight was found from C 3 (14.6 g) while minimum from
C 1 (11.9 g) (Table 3). Similar results were also reported by Bhat et al (2009).
Diameter of cormel: Maximum individual cormel diameter (1.5 cm) was recorded from large corm while
minimum from C 3 (1.3 cm) (Table 3).
Cormel yield/plot: Maximum cormel yield was found from C 3 (1.2 kg/plot) while minimum from C 1 (0.8
kg/plot) (Table 3).
Cormel yield/hectare: Maximum cormel yield was found from C 3 (14.3 t/ha) while minimum from C 1
(10.8 t/ha) (Table 3).
Table 3. Effect of corm size on cormel production of gladiolus
Weight of Diameter of Yield of
Corm Number of Yield of
individual individual cormel cormel
sizes cormel/plant cormel (t/ha)
cormel (g) (cm) (kg/plot)
C1 20.3 c 11.9 c 1.3 c 0.8 c 10.3 c
C2 23.8 b 13.3 b 1.4 b 0.9 b 12.4 b
C3 25.3 a 14.6 a 1.5 a 1.1 a 14.3 a
LSD0.05 0.9 0.8 0.1 0.1 0.1
CV% 5.5 7.9 7.4 7.3 2.7
In a column mean values having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar
letter(s) di ffer significantly as per 0.05 level of significance
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Evaluate the Corm Size 67

Conclusion
From above result and discussion it might be concluded that large size corm was more effective than
small corm for gladiolus production.
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