IDENTIFYING A SUITABLE GROWING MEDIUM AND A

IDENTIFYING A SUITABLE GROWING MEDIUM AND A
FERTILIZER PACKAGE FOR DRACAENA GODSEFFIANA L.CV
'FLORIDA BEAUTY'
C.H. Sapumanage 1 , R.A.S Percra2 and S.E Peiris1
'Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of
Peradeniya
2
RoyaI Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya
ABSTRACT
Dracaena godseffiana Lev 'Florida Beauty' is an ornamental foliage
plant which has a great demand in the export market. However, there is
no suitable growing medium available to overcome its slow growth rate
which is a great limiting factor for large scale production. This study
inducted, to investigate the growing medium and fertilizer package
which will give the best vegetative growth and to differentiate the effects
ofbiofertilizer and chemical fertilizer on plant growth.
• experiment, coir dust: sand in two ratios as 3:2 and 4:1 and four
different types of composts with three different fertilizers were used.
Hence, the experiment comprised 24 treatment combinations.
The highest plant dry weight, number of leaves and root length were
obtained from the medium containing coir dust:sand 3:2 ratio +garden
~ompost+ Wucksal+Blue crystal. The highest total height of shoots
showed in the medium of coir dust:sand 4:1 ratio+commercial
compost+N:P:K 3:1:2 ratio. Highest number of shoots were produced
in the medium containing coir dusf.sand 4:1 ratio+commercial
compost+ Wucksal+Blue crystal. Leaf colour and leaf glossiness did not
show any significant difference among growing media and fertilizer
combinations. Coir dusf.sand 3:2+garden compost+Wucksal+Blue
crystal can be suggested as the suitable growing medium for D.
godseffiana L. cv 'Florida Beauty'.
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Key words : Dracaena godseffiana, growing media, growth performance
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