Effect of Soaking with Gibberellin and Treatment with Fungal and Bacterial Biofertilizers on the Growth and Flowering of Lilium spp.

Abstract

Abstract This experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at Janat AlNakheel located in khazmiah/Baghdad from 1/9/2020 to 1/6/2021 and aimed to study the effect of gibberellin (GA3) soaking and inoculation with fungous and bacterial biofertilizers on growth and flowering of lilium bulbs (Lilium spp.). The experiment was executed as factorial experiment utilizing the randomly complete block design (RCBD) with two factors. The results showed that soaking with gibberellin prior to planting along with inoculation with biofertilizers and their interaction enhanced vegetative growth traits in which a significant increase in plant height (48.85)cm, stem diameter (9.7)mm, number of leaves (110.56) leaves, leaf area (811.0)mm2, chlorophyll content in leaves (54.24) unit spad, dry weight percentage (12.68)%, and NPK percentage (2.61,0.40,3.07)% was noticed. In addition, flowering traits were also enhanced flowering duration (27.89) days, flower diameter (16.53)cm, dry weight percentage (11.26)%, number of flower buds (8.33)buds, flower content of total dissolved saccharides (11.84) and carotene pigments (2.724), and vase life (20.89) days.