Effect of Varieties and Planting Materials on Growth, Flowering and Bulb Production in Tuberose

An experiment was conducted at the Floriculture Research Field of Horticulture Research Centre (HRC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh during April, 2015 to February, 2017 to find out the suitable planting materials for specific tuberose genotype for growth, flowering and bulb production of tuberose. Individually both genotypes showed better performances for some specific parameters and large bulb showed best results among different planting materials. The genotype TR-001, single variety produced the longer plant and spike (49.37 and 85.04 cm, respectively) and also the heavier stick (72.14 g). Alternatively, TR-004 which is semi-double variety obtained the longer rachis (32.12 cm) and the maximum florets/spike (44.38). In case of bulb and bulblet production, TR-001 produced the heaviest and the largest bulb (19.9 g and 2.89 cm, respectively) while TR-004 produced the maximum bulblets/plant and also the highest bulblet weight/plant (18.39 and 33.88 g, respectively). Considering the nature and size of tuberose bulb, the large bulb demonstrated the longest rachis (33.34 cm), the maximum florets/spike (45.54), the heaviest flower sticks (76.25 g), the maximum number of bulbs/plant (6.70), the heaviest and the largest bulb (22.55 g and 3.12 cm, respectively) and also the maximum number and weight of bulblets/plant (22.55 and 38.53 g, respectively). There were no significant variations among the various combination of tuberose varieties and planting materials on growth, flowering, bulb and bulblet production of tuberose. Besides, mother/old and medium sized bulb showed also statistically similar performances in respect of rachis length, florets/spike, bulbs/plant, weight and diameter of bulb and bulblets/plant. So, mother/old bulb of any tuberose variety can also be used for the commercial production with the large and medium sized bulbs.