Effect of light condition and height of flower harvesting on bulb and bulblet production in Asiatic hybrid lily

Abstract: Availability of planting material is a limiting factor in the cultivation of Asiatic hybrid lily and small farmers are facing the constrains by frequently importing the Lilium bulbs for planting. An experiment was carried out to study the effect of light condition and height of flower harvesting on bulb and bulblet production in Asiatic hybrid lily at CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. The treatments consisted of four shade conditions i.e., 30 % green shade net (G1), 50 % green shade net (G2), 75 % green shade net (G3) and open field condition (control) (G4) in main plot, four height of flower harvesting i.e., 15 cm above ground (H1), 30 cm above ground (H2), 45 cm above ground (H3) and no flower harvesting (H4) in sub plot and three cultivar i.e., Gran Paradiso (V1), Novecento (V2) and Adelina (V3) in sub-sub plot. Experiemnt was laid out in split-split plot design with three replications. Comparison was made for the treatment effect on characters related to number of bulb and bulblet production, circumference (cm) and weight characters. Results revealed that green shade net significantly improved the bulb and bulblet production and higher number of bulb and bulblet per plant were produced under 50 % green shade net whereas least number of bulb were found in open field condition. More number of bulb and bulblet production were observed where no flowers were harvested. Among varieties, Gran Paradiso produced more number of bulb and bulblet per plant while minimum number of bulb per plant was observed by Novecento. Higher bulb circumference (cm) of bulb and bulblet was found with 50 % green shade net condition. The maximum bulb circumference was found in no flower harvesting treatment and minimum in 15 cm above ground of harvesting. The cultivar Gran Paradiso noted maximum bulb and bulblet circumference (cm). Results indicated that 50 % green shade net gave maximum weight of bulb and bulblet per plant. No flower harvesting treatment produced maximum weight of bulb and bulblet per plant. Among cultivars, Gran Paradiso produced highest weight of bulb per plant while cultivar Novecento produced minimum bulb weight per plant.