Influence of Combined Sources of Nutrients and Foliar Management of Micronutrients on Growth, Flowering and Tuber Production of Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis L.) in Western Uttar Pradesh Conditions

Abstract

Thesis Title: Influence of combined sources of nutrients and foliar management of micronutrients on growth, flowering and tuber production of dahlia (Dahlia variabilis L.) in Western Uttar Pradesh conditions The present study entitled “Influence of combined sources of nutrients and foliar management of micronutrients on growth, flowering and tuber production of dahlia (Dahlia variabilis L.) in Western Uttar Pradesh conditions” was conducted in 2022–2023 at Horticulture Research Centre, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut-250110 (U.P.), India with the foremost objectives to determine the proper dosages of micronutrients, organic manure, and their respective combinations that could affect growth, flowering and tuber yield of dahlia in a positive manner. There were 12 treatments administered which consisted of organic manures including vermicompost and farmyard manure along with the inorganic nutrient sources like urea, SSP and MOP and foliar spray of micronutrients such as zinc (ZnSO4) and iron (FeSO4). The experimental site was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications and observations regarding different parameters like vegetative, flowering, yield, soil analysis and economics were recorded. Among the various treatments applied Treatment T5 (75% RDF (NPK @ 75:90:75 kg/ha) + FYM (5t/ha) + 0.2% ZnSO4) was found to be significantly superior in terms of different vegetative characteristics such as plant height, plant spread, stem girth, number of leaves per plant, leaf area, weight of single tuber, number of tubers per plant, tuber yield per plot and tuber yield per hectare and benefit cost ratio. While, treatment T6 (75% RDF (NPK @ 75:90:75 kg/ha) + VC (2t/ha) + 0.2% FeSO4) significantly influenced number of branches per plant along with various flowering parameters like days to flower bud initiation, days to 50% flowering, flower diameter, number of flowers per plant, blooming period of flowers, fresh weight of single flower and flower yield per hectare. However, treatment T8 (75% RDF (NPK @ 75:90:75 kg/ha) + FYM (2t/ha) + VC (1t/ha) + 0.2% ZnSO4 + 0.2% FeSO4) significantly impacted flower diameter and proved to be the next most suitable treatment with respect to various vegetative, flowering and tuber yield parameters of Dahlia variabilis.