PERFORMANCE ON GROWTH AND FLOWERING OF SIXTEEN HYBRID GERBERA CULTIVARS

An experiment was conducted at 2a Rooftop garden, Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh to assess growth and flowering of gerbera cultivars. Sixteen hybrid gerbera cultivars were used on the experiment by following the Completely Randomized Design with five replications. Plant height, number of leaves, number of flowers/plant, peduncle length, peduncle diameter, flower head diameter, petal thickness, petal number and petal color (L*, a*, b*, C* and hab) showed significant variation among the cultivars. Maximum number of flower/plant (11.6), peduncle length (65.0 cm), peduncle diameter (12.3 mm) and flower head diameter (10.8 cm) was found from V₈ which was followed by V₇. Maximum petal thickness (0.69 mm) was found from V₇ followed by V₁₃ (0.42 mm), V₈ (0.36 mm) and V₁₄ (0.36 mm). However, V8 was the best among the cultivars concerning the yield which was followed by V₇.