Effect of spacing and nitrogen on growth, flowering and yield of gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) cv. American Beauty

A multifactor experiment on effect of different plant spacing and nitrogen levels on growth, yield and quality of gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) cv. “American Beauty” was conducted in Winter season (2014-15) at the Fruit Research Station, Jambuvadi Farm, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh. The treatments comprised of three levels of spacing (40 x 15 cm, 40 x 20 cm and 40 x 25 cm) and four levels of nitrogen (150, 200, 250 and 300 kg/ha) in a factorial randomized block design and replicated thrice. The result revealed that higher plant heightwas obtained at a closer spacing of 40 x 15 cm and fertilized with 250 kg nitrogen per hectare and wider spacing of 40 x 25 cm and fertilized with 250 kg nitrogen per hectare recorded maximum vegetative and flowering characters viz., number of tillers per plant, fresh weight of plant (g), dry weight of plant (g), days required for opening of first spike emergence, number of spike per plant, number of spike per plot and number of spike per hectare.