RESPONSE OF GLADIOLUS CV. CARMEN TO COMPOST, BIOFERTILIZATION AND SOME VITAMIN TREATMENTS

A field experiment was carried out during the two successive seasons of 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 to study the effect of compost and biofertilizers, as well as, some vitamins and their interaction on Gladiolus grandiflorus cv. Carmen plant. Results showed that vegetative growth (leaf length, number of leaves/plant and dry weight of leaves/plant), flowering aspects (length of spike, number of florets/spike and lower floret diameter) and corms productivity (corm diameter, corm dry weight and number of cormels per plant) were gradually increased by increasing the level of compost fertilizer. All biofertilizers and vitamins treatments significantly increased all vegetative growth characters, flowering parameters and corm and cormels productivity in comparison with the control. Effective microorganisms (E.M.) + active dry yeast (A.Y.) treatment seemed to be more effective than other treatments in this concern. The use of high level of compost (21 ton/fed) in combination with combined biofertilizers noticeably improved the different vegetative growth characters, flowering parameters and corms productivity of gladiolus.