Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(8): 1572-1582 1572 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.608.188 Effect of Organic Resources of Nutrients for Corms and Cormlet Production of Three Cultivars of Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) in the Hilly Tract of West Bengal, India I. Sarkar*, S. Maitra and K. Swathi Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Uttar Banga Krishi ViswavidyalayaPundibari, Coochbehar, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Floriculture has become a profitable industry and foreign exchange earner. Gladiolus is an important floriculture crop in India for its breathtaking beauty with widest range of magnificent colour, size and form of flowers. Botanically the modern hybrids are known as Gladiolus grandiflorus Linn. It belongs to the family Iridaceae. In West Bengal, Darjeeling district ranked first in gladiolus production from a quite long time and it has also a good tradition for gladiolus cultivation. Gladiolus being a bulbous plant require a fairly good amount of nutrients (Both macro and micro element). Recent trends on eco-friendly, sustainable commercial practices improved Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) as a International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 8 (2017) pp. 1572-1582 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The experiment was carried out in two consecutive years 2009 and 2010 at Regional Research Station (Hill zone) of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, West Bengal to study the effect of organic resources of nutrients for corms and cormlet production of three cultivars of gladiolus ( Gladiolus sp.) namely Candyman, American Beauty and Jester. The different organic sources of nutrients namely bone meal (5t/ha), Farm yard manure (FYM) (50t/ha), vermicompost (5t/ha) were used alone and in combination with bio-fertilizers namely [VAM] (2g/plant), Phosphobacteria (2g/plant) and Azospirillum (2g/plant). The cv. Jester performed better in production of number of corm per plant (2.28), equatorial diameter of corm (6.54 cm), average weight of corm (62.94 g) and average weight of cormlet (38.41 g). The higher polar diameter of corm (3.79 cm) and greater number of cormlet per plant (125.01) were produced by the cv. Candyman. Among the different treatments of manures and bio-fertilizers the application of FYM (25t/ha), vermicompost (2.5t/ha), bone meal (5t/ha) and Trichoderma @ 20g/m 2 (T 4 ) produced greater number of corm per plant (3.07), equatorial diameter of corms (6.42cm) and number of cormlet per plant (123.83). On the other hand, the treatment consisting of bone meal @ 5t/ha, VAM, Phosphobacteria and Azospirillum each @ 2g/plants and Trichoderma @ 20g/m 2 in T 9 was found better in respect of polar diameter of corm (3.90 cm) and average weight of corm (65.0 g). Among the combination of treatments, the propagation co-efficient was found maximum with the cv. Jester (495.60%) in the case of T 9 (VAM @ 2g/plant + Phosphobacteria @ 2g/plant + Azospirillum @ 2g/plant + Bone meal @ 5t/ha + Trichoderma @ 20g/m 2 ). Keywords Gladiolus, Organic, Corm and Cormlet. Accepted: 17 June 2017 Available Online: 10 August 2017 Article Info