Effect of Temperature and Period of Storage on Breaking Dormancy in Gladiolus ( Gladiolus grandiflorus Hort.) Corms

An experiment was conducted in 2010-2011 at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, on three gladiolus cultivars viz., 'Arka Amar', 'Darshan' and 'Kum Kum' to study effects of storage temperature (4°C and room temperature 27±2°C) and length of storage (50, 70 and 90 days) on dormancy of corms. Cv. 'Kum Kum' registered minimum number of days for sprouting (42.71 days), spike emergence (116 days) and days to opening of first floret (128 days). Corms stored at 4°C resulted in lowest number of days for-sprouting (45.24 days), days to spike emergence (114.63 days) and days to opening of first floret (126.60 days) and resulted in highest sprouting percentage (58.7%). Interaction effects revealed that cv. 'Kum Kum' stored at 4°C for 90 days after harvest took minimum number of days to sprouting (25.07 days), days to spike emergence (90.38 days) and days to opening of first floret (102.38 days) resulting in 100% sprouting.