Evaluation of Gerbera Varieties for Growth and Flowering under Shadenet

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate different varieties of gerbera for growth and flowering under shade net at Satpuda Botanical Garden, College of Agriculture, Nagpur during September 2001 to March 2002. The data revealed that amongst all 13 varieties under study, Charmander had significantly more plant height and life span of flowers. Savannah had significantly more number of leaves per plant, leaf area, stalk length and width, number of flowers per plant and required minimum days for development of flowers. Maximum diameter of flower recorded in variety Sangria. Vino had more vase life of flowers. Dalma and Goldflor required significantly less period for first flower bud initiation. Overall performance of Savanna, Sangria, Vino, Charmander, Dalma and Goldflor varieties was found better.


Background
Gerbera (Gerbera jame sonii) is an important commercial cut flower crop grown throughout the world in the wide range of climatic conditions. It is ideal for beds, borders, pots, and rock gardens. The flower come in a wide range of colours and lend themselves beautyfully to different floral arrangements. The double cultivars sometimes have bicolour flowers, which are very attractive. The flower stalk are long, thin and leafless. This flower commonly known as Transvarsal African or Barbertan Daisy. Gerbera stands sixth in the international market. Gerbera is grown in the open field as well as in the polyhouse though comparatively, hardy crop, giving high returns.
The genus Gerbera was named in honour of German naturalist Traugott Gerber and the species Jamesonii in honour of Captain Jameson (Das and Singh, 1989). Gerbera is propagated sexually by seeds and asexually by division of clumps and through cuttings.
The scientific information and location specific package of practices and improved production technology of various gerbera varieties in Vidarbha region are meager. Hence, the present investigation haven been planned with the objective to evaluate the performance of gerbera varieties under shade net in respect of growth and flowering in pot culture to explore the possibilities of identifying suitable varieties for Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. As per data recorded it is found that maximum leaf area was recorded in savannah (264.43 cm 2 ) which was significantly superior over other varieties Diablo (233.23 cm 2 ), Goldflor (232.30 cm 2 ), Rosalin (228.43 cm 2 ), Charmander (217.43 cm 2 ) and Sangria (215.46 cm 2 ). Next in order were Magnum (201.50 cm 2 ), Francella (182.53 cm 2 ), Dalma (180.76 cm 2 ), Sunanda (150.36 cm 2 ), Goldengate (145.00 cm 2 ) and Ornella (111.53 cm 2 ). This might be due to better management of crop Maria Shaila Barreto (2000), recorded similar observations in leaf area of gerbera.  (2000) recorded similar observations in gerbera varieties.

Summary
As per the results obtained it was observed that the the growth parameters with respect to plant height, maximum plant height recorded by variety Charmander (45 cm) and Savannah (44.23 cm) were considered as the superior varieties. In respect of number of leaves, Savannah (31.2 leaves), Chamander (30.1 leaves) were considered better varieties. Savannah was considered superior variety as far as leaf area (264.43 cm 2 ) is concerned. In respect of days required for first bud initiation, Dalma (

Materials and Methods
The present investigation was carried out under the shade net of Satpuda Botanical Garden, College of Agriculture, Nagpur during September 2001 to March 2002. 50 per cent shade net was used, Earthen pots of 30 cm height and 28.5 cm in diameter were used for planting gerbera seedlings. The pot mixture consisted of 2 part FTM + 1 part sand + 1 part soil. A well drained, porous, rich, light neutral or slighly acidic soil of 1 m depth was taken. The pH of soil mixture was 7.1. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomised design with 13 treatments consisting of different varieties and 3 replications. Tissue culture seedlings of Charmander, Dalma, Diablo, Francella, Goldengate, Goldflor, Magnum, Ornella, Rosalin, Sangria, Savannah, Sunanda and Vino were potted on the 13 Sept. 2001. Each pot contained only one plant. The seedlings were purchased from M/s Kumar Gentech, Pune. Each treatment in each replication consisted of 5 plants. After plantation N:P:K were applied through 20:20:20 complex fertilizer @ 1.5 g per lit of water at 2 days interval for the first three months during the vegetative phase to have better foliage. Once flowering commenced N:P:K 15:8:35 @ 1.5 g per lit.
Of water were given to get better yield. The observations on plant height (cm), number of leaves, leaf area (cm 2 ), days required for initiation of first flower bud, days required for development of flower, life span of flower on plant, diameter of flower (cm), stalk length (cm), stalk \width (cm), total number of flowers per plant and vase life in days were recorded.