PERFORMANCE OF ANTHURIUM ANDREANUM TO DIFFERENT GROWING MEDIA ON FLOWERING Ajish Muraleedharan, K. Sha, S. Kumar, G. Samlind Sujin, J. L. Joshi* and C. Praveen Sampath Kumar* Depart. of Horticulture,Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai nagar- 608002 (Tamilnadu), India * Depart. of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai nagar- 608002. (Tamilnadu) India ABSTRACT Anthuriums are tropical plants gaining popularity due to higher returns per unit area and for their long lasting flowers and attractive foliage. They are very popular with flower arrangers because of bold effect and long lasting qualities of flowers. Anthurium plants require growing medium with good physical and chemical conditions for their proper growth and development. Proper selection of growing medium influences plant growth, flower production, quality and postharvest behaviour of flowers. Anthuriums reproduce vegetatively through suckers, the suckers are identical to the mother plant and to each other. Many anthurium cultivars do not produce suckers or produce very few. Vegetative propagation can also be achieved through by cuttings. In the commercial Anthurium production, propagation is mostly by tissue culture. Present research work was carried out to find out the best suited growing media for the production of Anthurium plants. The experiment was conducted with eleven different growing media with three replications. All the treatments were grown under uniform shade level of 75% by using shade nets. Among the different treatments, coco peat + FYM was found to be the best growing medium for anthurium cultivation, recorded maximum plant height, plant spread, number of flowers per plant, flower stalk length, spathe length and spathe breadth followed by rice husk + FYM. Key words: growing medium, Anthurium Introduction Floriculture is the fast emerging industry and cultivation of flowers for commercial purpose is common to the world. It has become one of the high value agricultural business in many countries of the world (Taj, 2013). The demand for cut flowers production in India and international markets is increasing at a faster rate. Anthurium is a slow growing perennial belongs to the family araceae requires shady humid conditions as found in tropical forests, grown for their showy cut flowers and attractive foliage. It has gained importance as one of the major cut flower of the modern world. Anthurium growing is a potential source of commercial farming and it makes best use of ready market for cut flowers with high returns both for its cut flower and whole plant. It includes more than 100 genera and about 1599 species, chiefly from tropics (Higaki et al , 1994). The Anthurium plant possesses an underground rhizome with adventitious roots, with low creeping habit of growth, using aerial roots for anchorage. Anthurium plants require good growing medium in good physical and chemical conditions for their proper growth and development. Highly organic, well aerated medium with good water retention capacity and drainage is needed. The plant produces blooms throughout the year, one bloom emerging from the axil of every leaf. Flowers are usually harvested once a week. Even though Anthurium is grown by many planters, there is very less scientific information on growing medium. Standardization of growing media is most important for obtaining higher plant growth, flower production, quality flowers and postharvest behaviour of flowers. Therefore, the present work is carried out with a view to find the best suited growing media for enhancing the growth and flowering of Anthurium plants. Materials and methods The present study was carried out in Flora-tech floriculture unit at Kottarakara, kollam Dist, kerala state, Plant Archives Vol. 20 Suppliment 1, 2020 pp. 3738-3740 e-ISSN:2581-6063 (online), ISSN:0972-5210 *Author for correspondence :