Maitra and Roychowdhury

on flowering of anthurium, because after attaining a certain number of good sized

leaves, the plant enters into the reproductive phase (Dai and Paull, 1990). Though,

Nakasone and Kamemoto (1962) reported the ineffectiveness of Gibberellins on

Growth and flowering of Anthuriums at 10-100 ppm, others reported the alteration

in vegetative growth as affected by the application of various plant growth

regulators [Higaki and Rasmussen (1979), Imamura and Higaki (1988)] because

propensity of sucker production in anthurium has also great significance, as the

separation of sucker is one of the chief methods for commercial propagation. To

judge the effect of plant growth regulators on the growth, development, flowering

and propensity of sucker production of anthurium, the present experiment was

conducted.

materials and methods

Anthurium plants were grown in a semi-automated polyhouse having 50%

shadenet for consecutive two years at the Jaguli Horticulture farm of Bidhan

Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India. The protected structure was

made of 4-angled alluminium bars and UV stabilized polyethylene sheet was used

as cladding material. The temperature was controlled using evaporative cooling

system and humidity by placing wet gunny bags on the floor. Irrigation was given

with the help of rotary sprinkler nozzles. Chopped coconut husk was used as

growing medium. The plants were treated with varying levels of GA ₃ and BA

both singly and in combination and the results were compared with control. The

required plant growth regulators were weighed according to the formulae- ppm

= mg/lit. The ingredients were made soluble with the help of specific solvents

e.g. 0.1 (N) HCl was the solvent for BA and rectified spirit was the solvent for

GA ₃ by adding dropwise and the final volume was made up with distilled water.

Spraying was done twice in a year at a trimonthly interval (March and June of each

year). The experiment was laid out following RBD as the statistical design with 7

treatments replicated thrice. The data of both the individual years were collected

and pooled analysis of the results of both the individual years was considered for

evaluation through MSTATC software. The seven treatments with notations are

presented below:

t ₀ – Control (no application of plant growth regulators)

t ₁ = BA 500 ppm

t ₂ = BA 1000 ppm

t ₃ = GA ₃ 500 ppm

t ₄ = GA ₃ 1000 ppm

t ₅ = BA 250 ppm + GA ₃ 250 ppm

t ₆ = BA 500 ppm + GA ₃ 500 ppm

42

Int. J. Bioinformatics and Biological Sci.: v.2 n.1&2, p. 41-53. March & June 2014