Performance of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L) Varieties under Protected Condition

The present investigation was undertaken to elevate different carnation varieties for the performance of Growth, yield and post-harvest quality under protected condition. The experiment was conducted in Horticultural Research Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, The Nilgiris, India . The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with Eleven varieties of Carnation viz., Big one, Turbo, Solex, Hunza, Easy Golem, Express Golem, Red King, Golem, Gioele, Big mama and Happy Golem. observation were recorded for plant height (cm), days to first flower, flowering duration, length of flower stem (cm), diameter of flower (cm), Number of flowers per plant and Calyx splitting (High : 60% and above, Medium: 30 – 50%, Low : less than 30%), Strength of flower stem, vase life solutions viz., AOA (25ppm), AOA (50ppm), CoCl2 (10ppm) ,CoCl2 (20ppm) and plain water for 30 minutes. The cultivar Happy Golem recorded maximum plant height of 100.50cm and the minimum plant height of 77.0 cm was noticed in Golem. Maximum number of shoots per plant was recorded in the cultivar Gioele (7.98 ) followed by Hunza (7.50) and minimum number of shoots per plant was observed in the entry Golem (5.30).Maximum number of leaves (195.20) and Leaf length (13.55 cm) was recorded in the entry Gioele. The Days to first flower ranged between 130.01 to 139.20 days from planting. The cultivar Turbo (130.01) recorded early to initiate the flower bud followed by Golem (130.10) .The cultivar Red king recorded maximum flowering duration of 13.50 days followed by big mama (13.20 days)) and minimum flowering duration was observed in Happy Golem (10.47 days).The Cultivar Gioele recorded the highest stalk length of 93.00 cm and the lowest stalk length of 68.50cm was observed by Golem. With respect to yield parameters maximum number of flowers per plant was recorded in Gioele (7.50 nos) followed by Red king (7.17 nos) and Hunza (6.97 nos) and Minimum number of flowers per plant was recorded in Golem (5.11 nos). Maximum number of A and B grade flower stems are produced in the Variety Gioele. Among the cultivar for prolonging the vase life of Carnation, treatment comprising of AOA @50ppm recorded maximum vaselife of 19 days by cultivar, minimum flower diameter (5.3cm) and maximum total water absorbed (45.0 ml) and found to be the best to increase the shelf life of carnation.