EVALUATION OF GROWING MEDIA FOR SEEDLING EMERGENCE AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF RED LADY PAPAYA

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of different growing media on seedling emergence and seedling production of Red lady papaya at Horticulture farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University. Different growing media were used in this experiment following Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Growing media showed considerable positive effect on all the studied characteristics. The medium of cocopellet (T₁₀) gave the maximum root number/plant (16.3), SPAD value (47.7) and least days (11.7) required for 80% germination. Cocopellet (T₁₀) and Soil + Vermicompost + Sand + Trichoderma, 2:2:1:1 (T₈) found to be maximum germination percentage, stem width and leaves number in papaya seedling. T₈ gave highest root length (8.1 cm) and seedling height (17.2 cm). In view of overall performance, T₈ and T₁₀ found to be effective medium for red lady papaya seedling production performed the best in all parameter over rest of the treatment.