Effect of Colchicine Concentration and Exposure Duration on the Growth and Flowering of Petunia hybrid L.

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this research is to find out the effect of three concentrations of colchicine (0, 0.2, 0.5%,) with different exposure times (24, 36, 48 hours) on petunias for growth and flowering characteristics. experiment was carried out with a design The randomized complete Block design (RCBD) with a one-way system, and the results of the study showed the following: The cause of colchicine exposure a significant increase in most of the studied growth characteristics and the superiority of exposure. The treatment with colchicine excelled 0.5 at the time of 36 hours by giving the least rate of plant height, the most, the number of leaves, the largest leaf area, and the largest plant spread (38.03 cm, 77.7 leaf plant−1, 952 cm2, 20.86 branch plant−1), respectively. There were no significant differences in the number of branches. On the plant, the colchicine alkaloid had a significant effect on most of the studied flowering traits, early flowering at the time of flowering, and the highest mean of flowering number, flower diameter, and focal age (85.33 days, 22.33 plant flower−1, 9.517 cm, 74 days), respectively. The concentration of colchicine 0.5% and the time of 36 hours recorded the highest rate of anthocyanin pigment chlorophyll in the plant, reaching 7.01% and 38.06 mg gm wet weight, respectively.