Development and quality of gladiolus stems with the use of vermicompost and Trichoderma sp. in substrate

Abstract

The gladiolus is an important cut flower that is cultivated in all parts of the world, and it is very appreciated to be used in floral arrangements. The growing concern with the environmental contamination and the look for production with higher quality have resulted in increasing the number of studies on the use of organic inputs and microorganisms in floriculture, in particular, the vermicompost and the Trichoderma sp. This work was conducted with the objective to evaluate the development and the quality of gladiolus floral stems in function of the use of vermicompost and Trichoderma sp. applied to the substrate. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse during the period of August to December of 2015. It was done by utilizing four treatments: T1 = control substrate (50% soil and 50% commercial substrate Carolina Soil); T2 = vermicompost (40%) and control substrate (60%); T3 = Trichoderma sp. added to the control substrate; T4 = Trichoderma sp. added to the vermicompost (40%) and control substrate (60%). The gladiolus variety used was the Peter’s Pears. The variables analyzed were main plant height, Falker chlorophyll index, length and diameter of the main stem, tassel length, quantity of main stem florets, proportionality between tassel and stem, and time until the start of flowering. It was concluded that the development and the quality of the gladiolus floral stem were favored by the use of vermicompost in the concentration of 40% added to the substrate.

Morphological and physiological responses of Calliandra haematocephala to water salinity stress and vermicompost

“…The plants treated with any concentration of vermicompost had significantly higher values for growth and flowering traits compared to control plants. These findings are similar to those obtained by earlier researches on ornamental plants including Gladiolus grandiflorus (Cruz et al, 2018;Karagöz et al, 2019), Tagetes erecta (Kumar et al, 2019), Gerbera jamesonii (Arunesh et al, 2020) and Chrysanthemum morfolium (Padamanabhan, 2021;Yadav and Chandla, 2021).…”

The Influence of Combined Pruning and the Use of Root Application of Two Biostimulants and Foliar Nutrition on the Growth and Flowering of Panicle Hydrangea Plants

“…The plants treated with T. harzianum and pruned most severely grew taller and had greater trunk diameters than those pruned less heavily and not inoculated. On the contrary, Cruz et al [41] did not observe any effect of Trichoderma spp. on the length of shoots or the flower quality of gladiolus.…”

Flowering, Quality and Nutritional Status of Tropaeolum majus L. ‘Spitfire’ after Application of Trichoderma spp.

“…do not always affect the quality of flowers and inflorescences in Gladiolus. The experiment conducted by da Cruz et al [42] on the 'Peter's Pear' cultivar showed no effect of the fungal treatment on the plants. The researchers stressed the fact that Freesia reflacta 'Argentea' produced inflorescences with the most flowers after Trichoderma fungi had been applied in treatment with plant lighting.…”