~ 765 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2019; 7(1): 765-769 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2019; 7(1): 765-769 © 2019 IJCS Received: 06-11-2018 Accepted: 10-12-2018 Sapna Kaushal Ph.D Scholar, Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India BS Dilta Departmentof Seed Science & Technology, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India YC Gupta Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India Pradeep Kumar Department of Soil Science and Water Management, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India RS Spehia Department of Soil Science and Water Management, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India RK Gupta Department of Basic Sciences, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India Correspondence Sapna Kaushal Ph.D Scholar, Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India Effect of drip irrigation levels on growth and flowering of alstroemeria ( Alstroemeria hybrida L.) Sapna Kaushal, BS Dilta, YC Gupta, Pradeep Kumar, RS Spehia and RK Gupta Abstract The present study was carried out at the experimental farm of the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture of Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan under naturally ventilated polyhouse conditions during 2014-15. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design having 10 treatments of drip irrigation levels replicated thrice. The observations on various growth, flowering and yield were recorded at the time of peak flowering. Maximum values w.r.t. plant height (94.12 cm), stem length (89.77 cm), stem thickness (8.41 mm), number of shoots per plant (44.08), number of leaves per plant (41.23), number of flowers per stem (16.88), number of flowers per cyme (5.50), inflorescence diameter (9.25 cm), vase life (20.05 days) as well as yield per plant (41.19 cut stems) in those plants which received T10 treatment i.e. 10 litres/m 2 (October- February) and 12.5 litres/m 2 (March-September). As regards the effect of flushes, maximum plant height (107.87 cm), stem length (103.96 cm), stem thickness (7.60 mm), number of shoots per plant (47.31), highest number of leaves per plant (42.72), maximum number of flowers per stem (16.09), number of flowers per cyme (4.67), inflorescence diameter (8.71 cm), higher vase life (17.14 days) as well as yield per plant (40.75 cut stems) was recorded in 1 st flush. The interaction, T10×B1 i.e. when plants were irrigated with 10 litres/m 2 (October- February) and 12.5 litres/m 2 (March-September) during 1 st flush recorded maximum values in terms of most of the growth and flowering parameters of commercial importance. Hence, it is concluded that for better growth, flowering and yield of cut flowers, the alstroemeria plants be irrigated with the 10 litres/m 2 (October- February) and 12.5 litres/m 2 (March-September). Keywords: drip irrigation, growth, flowering, yield and alstroemeria Introduction Alstroemeria (Alstroemeria hybrida L.) is an important bulbous ornamental plant of great commercial value and belongs to family alstroemeriaceae. It is native to South America and commonly known as ‘the Peruvian Lily’ or ‘Lily of Incas’. The genus Alstroemeria has about 93 species mostly found in Chile and Brazil. A large number of cultivars have been bred through hybridization and mutagenesis and being cultivated for cut flower production, pot plant and outdoor planting mainly in the Netherlands, Colombia, U.S.A., England, France, Kenya, Japan and other countries. Though, alstroemeria is a recent introduction in the world floriculture trade but it is gaining popularity in the global perspective mainly due to the reason that it has large number of cultivars in a variety of colours, ease in cultivation besides the fact that its cut flowers have long lasting vase life over two to three weeks. Therefore, alstroemeria has attained the status of one of the most important cut flower of the world. Besides cut flowers and pot plants, alstroemeria is also gaining popularity for being growing as an important bedding plant, in containers for the decks, patios as well as in the various landscapes and bulbous gardens particularly in the temperate regions. Hence, alstroemeria has attained position among the top ten cut flowers, pot plants as well as outdoor plants traded in the Aalsmeer market (NHB, 2015) [1] . Alstroemeria is a rhizomatous monocot plant and prefers to grow more luxuriantly and flower profusely in the cool and moist climatic conditions. Alstroemeria plant consists of sympodial fleshy multi-stemmed rhizomes from which aerial shoots and fibrous roots arise (Gupta and Gupta, 2007) [2] . As the plant develops, the fibrous roots become thickened storage roots. These storage roots, called ‘Redices medullosae’ are long, thick, white, fleshy, very brittle and densely haired.