J. Expt. Biosci.

4(2):7-10, July 2013 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

EFFECT OF SPRAYING FREQUENCY OF GIBBERELLIC ACID ON GROWTH AND FLOWERING IN
GERBERA

H. Mehraj1, T. Taufique1, A.F. Ona1, M.Z.K. Roni1 and A.F.M. Jamal Uddin1*

*Corresponding author; jamal4@yahoo.com

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University,

Dhaka, Bangladesh to evaluate the effect of gibberellic acid (150-ppm GA3, G) on gerbera. Four
treatments, namely G0; no spray of GA3 (Control), G1; one time spray of GA3 at 15 days after
transplanting (DAT), G2: two times sprays of GA3 (at 15 and 30 DAT) and G3: three times sprays of
GA3 (at 15, 30 and 45 DAT) were used in the present study. It was observed that G3 performed as the
best treatment in terms of having significantly higher number of leaves plant-1 (58.7), plant height
(50.5 cm), individual leaf area (35.8 cm2), chlorophyll content, number of flower plant-1 (16.3),
peduncle length (36.1 cm), peduncle diameter (3.1 mm) and flower head diameter (7.4 cm). G3 also
took the maximum days for the first flower bud initiation (83.8 days) while G0 took the minimum days
(65.7 days). So, it was interpreted that three times spraying of GA 3 caused delay in flowering ensuring
proper vegetative growth for producing maximum flower production.

Key words: Gerbera, repeated spray of GA3, growth and flowering

Introduction

Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii L.) belonging to Asteraceae family is a popular cut flower in the world as well as in
Bangladesh which is commonly known as gerbera, African daisy, Transvaal daisy and Barberton daisy. Gibberellic
acid is a simple gibberellin, application of gibberellic acid (GA) to plants results in a variety of responses like cell
division (Sachs et al., 1959; Greulach and Haesloop, 1958), cell elongation (Brian, 1958) or both (Dure and Jensen,
1957; Cooper, 1958; Bradley and Crane, 1957). Gibberellic acid treated plants exhibited a change in leaf shape or size
(Brian and Grove, 1957; Soost, 1959) and a retardation of root growth (Kato, 1958). Prominent phytohormone,
gibberellic acid (GA3) has the potential control on growth and flowering process. In addition, GA 3 application
increased petiole length, leaf area and delayed petal abscission and color fading (senescence) by the hydrolysis of
starch and sucrose into fructose and glucose (Khan and Chaudhry, 2006; Emongor, 2004). In case of gerbera,
maximum vegetative growth, flower yield and quality were observed with the application of 150-ppm GA3 (Dalal et
al., 2009). Considering the facts, present study was undertaken to assess the influence of gibberellic acid (GA3)
spraying frequency on growth and flowering of gerbera.

Materials and Methods

An experiment was carried out at the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
during the period from December 2012 to May 2013 in a complete randomized design with five replications. Soil and
cow-dung (1:1) were mixed and pots (10 inches) were filled 10 days before transplanting. Recommended chemical
fertilizers (5, 10 and 5 g of N, P and K respectively in each pot) were mixed with the soil. Brick red colored gerbera
cultivar was exerted on the experiment. GA3 was sprayed with the same concentration (150 ppm) according to
treatment. Sprayings of gibberellic acid @150-ppm were done with the following treatments G0: no spray of GA3

1
Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.

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Mehraj et al.

(Control); G1: one time spray of GA3 (at 15 DAT), G2: two times sprays of GA3 (at 15 and 30 DAT); G3: three times
sprays of GA3 (at 15, 30 and 45 DAT).

Data were collected on number of leaves, plant height, leaf area, chlorophyll (i.e. SPAD value) and days to first flower
bud initiation, number of flower, peduncle length, peduncle diameter and flower head diameter. Number of leaves and
plant height were measured at 30 days interval starting from 30 DAT and continued up to 150 DAT. Leaf area,
chlorophyll content (SPAD value) and peduncle diameter were measured by using CL-202 Leaf Area Meter, SPAD-
502 Chlorophyll Meter and Digital Caliper-515 (DC-515) respectively. Leaf area and chlorophyll content were
measured at 120 DAT and peduncle diameter at full bloomed stage. All parameters were statistically analyzed by using
MSTAT-C computer package program. Mean for all the treatments was calculated, analysis of variance for each of the
characters performed by F-test and difference between treatments evaluated by Least Significant Difference test at 5%
level of significance (Gomez and Gomez 1984).

Results and Discussion

Number of leaves plant-1: Leaf number varied significantly in different treatments. The highest number of leaves were
obtained from G3 (58.8) followed by G2 (55.0) whereas the lowest number (47.3) was observed in G0 (Fig. 1a). Results
indicated that three times application of 150-ppm GA3 increased the number of leaves in gerbera plant.

Plant height: Plant height varied significantly in different treatments. Tallest plant was found in G3 (50.5 cm), which
was statistically identical with G2 (49.2 cm) whereas the shortest plant (45.2 cm) was observed in G0 (Fig. 1b). Results
also indicated that three times application of 150-ppm GA3 increased the plant height of gerbera.

60
70.0 G0
G0 G1
G1
60.0 G2
G2
Plant height (cm).

G3
Leaf number.

G3 45
50.0

40.0
30
30.0
(a) (b)
20.0 15
0 30 60 90 120 150 0 30 60 90 120 150
Days after transplantation (DAT) Days after transplantation (DAT)
Fig. 1. Effect of foliar application of GA3 on (a) leaves number plant-1 (b) plant height of gerbera at
different days after transplantation (DAT)

Individual Leaf area: Significant variation was found among the treatments in terms of leaf area. The highest leaf area
was observed in G3 (35.8 cm2), which was significantly higher than other treatments. The second highest leaf area was
found in G2 (34.9 cm2) whereas the lowest in G0 (27.5 cm2) (Table 1). From the experiment it was revealed that three
times spraying of 150-ppm GA3 increased the leaf area of gerbera.
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J. Expt. Biosci. 4(2):7-10, July 2013 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

Chlorophyll (SPAD): Significant variation was found in chlorophyll content (i.e. SPAD value) among the treatments.
The highest SPAD value (53.0) was found in G3, which was significantly higher than others. The second highest SPAD
value was found in G2 (49.0 while the lowest in G0 (37.3 (Table 1).

Days to first flower bud initiation: Days taken for the first flower bud initiation differed significantly among the
treatments. Early flower budding (65.7 days) was observed in G 0 whereas late flower budding (83.7 days) in G3 (Table
1). Results indicated that three times application of 150-ppm GA3 prolonged vegetative growth and caused late flower
budding. On the other hand, G0 treatments showed less vegetative growth than the other treatments and caused the
early flower budding.

Number of flower plant-1: Significant dissimilarity was found in flower numbers among the treatments. The highest
number of flowers was found in G3 (16.3 flowers) that was significantly higher than other treatments. The second
highest number of flowers was recorded in G2 (13.7 flowers). G0 gave the lowest number of flowers (9.3 flowers)
(Table 1).

Table 1. Response of gerbera to spraying of GA3

Flower
Chlorophyll Days to Number Peduncle Peduncle
Leaf area Head
Treatments content flower bud of flower length diameter
(cm2) Diameter
(SPAD) initiation plant-1 (cm) (mm)
(cm)
G0 27.5 d 37.7 d 65.7 d 9.3 d 26.7 b 2.7 b 6.9 c
G1 29.5 c 45.7 c 71.0 c 11.7 c 28.7 b 2.9 ab 7.0 c
G2 34.9 b 49.0 b 76.7 b 13.7 b 34.4 a 3.0 a 7.2 b
G3 35.8 a 53.0 a 83.7 a 16.3 a 36.1 a 3.1 a 7.4 a
CV % 1.2 2.8 1.3 6.9 7.2 4.5 0.8
LSD 0.05 0.8 2.6 1.9 1.8 4.5 0.3 0.1

Peduncle length: Peduncle length differed significantly among the treatments. The highest peduncle length was found
in G3 (36.1 cm) which was statistically identical with G2 (34.4 cm). The lowest peduncle length was found in G0 (26.7
cm) which was statistically alike with G1 (28.7 cm) (Table 1).

Peduncle diameter: Peduncle diameter differed significantly among the treatments. The highest peduncle diameter
was found in G3 (3.1 mm) which was statistically similar to the G2 (3.0 mm) and G1. The lowest diameter was
observed in G0 (2.7 mm) (Table 1).

Flower head diameter: Flower head diameter varied significantly with the treatments. The highest flower head
diameter was found in G3 (7.4 cm), which was significantly higher than other treatments. The second highest head
diameter was recorded in G2 which was significantly higher than G0 and G1. The lowest head diameter was recorded
in G0 (6.9 cm) which was statistically identical compared to G1 (7.0 cm) (Table 1).

So, evaluating the above results, it might be concluded that three times spraying of 150-ppm GA3 at 15, 30 and 45
DAT could increase plant growth, flower production and flower quality of gerbera.

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Mehraj et al.

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