Evaluation of standard carnation cultivars under protected conditions

The investigation entitled "Evaluation of standard carnation cuitivars under protected conditions" was carried out at experimental farm of the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni-Solan (H.P.) during the year 2007–2008. Twenty one cuitivars were planted in CRD in a plot size of 1 x 1.20 m and spacing 20 x 20 cm. Analysis of variance showed highly significant variation among cuitivars for all the traits studied. Cultivar ‘Master’ recorded maximum plant height (85.66 cm), stem length (76.72 cm) and fresh cut flower weight (41.20 g). Leaf area was recorded maximum (12.65 cm²) in cultivar ‘Firato’. The cultivar ‘Riberra’ recorded maximum values for three traits viz. number of flowers (7.17), flowers size (7.26 cm) and stem thickness (14.79 mm). Maximum duration of flowering was recorded in cultivar ‘Lady Green’ (19.23 days) which was at par with cultivar ‘Riberra’ (16.93 days). Maximum vase life of 12.4 days was observed in cultivar ‘Farida’. Cultivar ‘Sunrise’ was late flowering as it took 173.77 days to come into flowering while cultivar "Lavender Lace" took minimum days (142.97 days) to come into flowering. The sturdiest stems were recorded in cultivar ‘Dona’ (5.07°) while the stem strength had the minimum value for cultivar ‘Baltico’ (18.73°). Strong positive association was recorded for plant height and flower weight with number of flowers per plant. Also, plant height and stem length exhibited positive perfect correlation. The cuitivars ‘Master’, ‘Riberra’ and ‘Farida’ were promising as they had many desirable traits.