Corm and Cormel Production in Gladiolus Low cost techniques for production of propagating materials of gladiolus

A series of experiments were conducted to find out the different techniques for rapid multiplication of corm and cormel in gladiolus. Gladiolus can be propagated effectively through sprouts. 50:50 sand and garden soil mixture was found the best media for sprout propagation. Manual removal of apical bud, half corm with bud, removal of spike without leaf or with one leaf or with two leaves, the big sized cormel (1.8-2.1 cm in diameter) coupled with the closest plant spacing (5 cm) and cormel fertilized with N150 K200 kg ha-1 were suitable for rapid multiplication of gladiolus corm and cormel. Among various level of BA and GA3, BA 50 mg l-1 and GA3 50 mg l-1 showed better performance for corm and cormel production from cormel along with the highest marginal rate of return (921% and 775%, respectively). GA3 100 mg l-1 gave much higher gross margin (308,500 Tk ha-1) compared to 50 mg l-1 GA3. Corms stored for 30 days followed by different growth regulators sprouted 11.63 and 21.24 days earlier than 75 and 90 days stored corms, respectively. BAP @ 1.5 mg l-1 and 60 g l-1 sucrose were suitable for in vitro shoot multiplication and cormel production of gladiolus, respectively.