EFFECT OF MINERAL AND BIOFERTILIZATION TREATMENTS ON: 1- VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND FLOWERING OF GLADIOLUS PLANTS

A field experiment was carried out at Nursery of Ornamental Plants, Fac. Agric., Minia Univ., Egypt during the two successive seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 to investigate the effect of NPK (0, 50, 75 and 100% of recommended dose) and biofertilization (phosphorein and/or E.M.) treatments on growth and flowering of Gladiolus grandiflorus cv. White Prosperity. Results showed that vegetative growth traits (leaf length, number of leaves/plant and leaves dry weight/plant) and flowering parameters (length of spike, rachis length, number of florets/spike, first floret diameter and fresh weight) were gradually increased by increasing the levels of NPK fertilizer. Also, all biofertilization treatments significantly increased all vegetative growth parameters as well as all flowering characters in comparison with the control. Phosphorein plus effective microorganisms (E.M.) treatment was more effective in this concern. It was found that the use of NPK (75% from the recommended dose) plus phosphorein + E.M. improved the growth and flower production of gladiolus plants compared with the other treatments.