Optimizing Growth Dynamics and Vase Life Extension of Daffodil (Narcissus Tazetta L. Var. Orientalis 'Double Roman') Through High-Dose Compost and GA₃ Pre-Treatment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jnsrr/V2E10/2026-03Keywords:
Narcissus tazetta var. Orientalis, Phyto-priming, Gibberellic acid (GA₃), Flowering longevity, Vegetative architecture, and Compost made from Palm fronds.Abstract
To promote the growth of the crop and floral quality, sustainable floriculture is based on environment friendly agronomic management, including the use of organic substrates for soil preparation and bulb priming with phytohormones. The effect of individual and combined application of organic compost incorporation and gibberellic acid (GA₃) bulb priming on morpho-physiological traits, phenology and post-harvest flowering longevity of daffodil (Narcissus tazetta L. var. was evaluated. Orientalis 'Double Roman'). A pot experiment was designed to assess the contribution of the two factors in a two-factor factorial Scheme (3 × 3) with a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Three compost rates (0%, 20%, and 40% w/w) and three concentrations of GA₃ (0, 100, and 200 mg L⁻¹) were used in the experimental treatments. Analysis of variance showed statistically significant main and interaction effects (P ≤ 0.05) for all the parameters evaluated. The substrate enrichment with 40% compost (C₄₀) showed the significant better performance than the lower rates and produced the highest mean values for the plant height (40.13 cm), the number of leaves (4.98 leaves plant-1), the length of the leaves (53.83 cm), the width of the leaves (2.35 cm), the emergence time (9.28 days) and the flowering period (15.12 days). In the same way, the mean values of plant height (39.20 cm), plant leaves (5.00 leaves plant-1), leaf length (55.50 cm), leaf width (2.38 cm), emergence duration (9.50 days) and flowering longevity (13.17 days) were the highest with bulb priming by 200 mg L-1 GA₃ (G₂₀₀). The synergistic effect of 40% compost incorporation with 200 mg L⁻¹ GA₃ priming (C₄₀ × G₂₀₀) resulted in highest overall performance for all traits investigated such as plant height (45.80 cm), leaf number (5.72 leaves plant⁻¹), leaf length (62.50 cm), leaf width (2.62 cm), emergence duration (11.20 days) and flowering longevity (15.35 days) compared to dual control (C₀ × G₀). The results presented here show that incorporating 40% organic compost and bulb priming with 200 mg L-1 GA3 offers an important, sustainable agronomic solution for better commercial daffodil production, cut flower vase life and the reduction in reliance on inorganic synthetic fertilizers for the commercial production of daffodils.
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