Influence of Vermicompost Application on the Growth of <i>Vinca rosea valiant</i>, <i>Pelargonium peltatum</i> L. and <i>Pegasus patio rose</i>

Abstract

Vermicompost (VC) is a nutrient-rich material that is mixed with soil, and it is used in this study. Four different environments were created such as control (Soil:VC:100–0%), mix one (Soil:VC:70–30% w/w), mix two (Soil:VC:50–50% w/w), and mix three (Soil:VC:40:60% w/w), and three well-developed roses (Vinca rosea valiant, Pelargonium peltatum, Pegasus patio) seedlings were transferred to individual pots. Plant growth parameters, i.e., the number of flowers, plant height, stem diameter, chlorophyll reading value, fresh flower weight, and flower dry weight height, were compared with respect to control seedlings. The improvement in the number of flowers, plant height, stem diameter, chlorophyll reading value, fresh flower weight, and flower dry weight height by 264, 71, 58, 255, and 193% for Vinca rosea valiant rosea, 138, 12, 160, 13, 55 and 112% for P. patio rose, and 50, 14, 23, 8, 61, and 41% for P. peltatum, respectively, grown in soil mixed with VC as compared to control. As a result of the research, the optimum growth parameter values and chlorophyll Meter SPAD values were obtained from the mix-three mediums for all three roses species. These results showed that 40% soil and 60% VC application could be proposed as the most effective medium in ornamental plant production.

Keywords

• soil amendment
• ornamental plants
• vermicompost
• nutrient