Performance Evaluation of Elite Gladiolus Cultivars under Agro Climatic Conditions of Rawalpindi

Cut flower production is a fast growing sub-sector of horticultural industry in Pakistan. Among the numerous flowering crops available for exploitation on commercial scale, gladiolus (Gladiolus alatus L.) is one of the premier bulbous ornamental crops. Performance of seven exotic cultivars of gladiolus namely; Jack gold, Nova, Invi, Porterdale, Eiaia, Fado and Madriver were evaluated for their growth and floral characteristics under agro-climatic conditions of Rawalpindi. The experiment was laid out according to randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Among the cultivars, Porterdale recorded the best result for plant height (139.33 cm), number of leaves per plant (9), leaf length (56.67 cm), leaf area (139 cm2) and floret length (10 cm). Cultivar Fado showed superiority in spike length (73.19 cm), floret width (11.33 cm) and number of florets per plant (16.41). Early flowering (105.33) was observed in Invi, while longevity of open floret (4.33 days) was best for cultivars Invi and Nova. Keeping in view the performance the most adapted gladiolus cultivars for cut flower production were Porterdale and Fado.