Corm and Cormel Production Improvement of Gladiolus by Spacing and Size

Gladiolus is one of the cut flowers in much demand throughout the world due to its spectacular colorful bloom and long shelf life.  Corm and cormels are the major propagative units for this plant. However, lower multiplication rate is a great hindrance for commercia l production. This experiment was conducted at research plots of the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh during the period of October 2017 to May 2018.  The two-factor experiment included plant spacing (S 1=25 cm x 20 cm, S2 = 20 cm x 30 cm, S3 = 25 cm x 30 cm) as factor A and corm size (C1 = Small corm, 30±2 g, C2 = Medium corm, 35±2 g, C3 = Large corm 40 g to 65 g) as factor B. Hence, nine combinations were set up as treatments with three replicates in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) to explore improvement of corm and cormel production of gladiolus. Positive responses were found in experimental parameter s such as corm diameter, weight of corm and cormels per plant, weight of corm and cormels per plot and yield of corms and cormels with increasing plant density and corm size.  Results of the experiment revealed that yield of corms (23.08 t/ha) and yield of cormels (16.12 t/ha) were the highest with the treatment combination S3C3. This investigation concluded with the g reatest corm and cormel production of gladiolus through the combination of wider plant spacing and large corm size under experimental conditions in Bangladesh.