EFFECT OF BIOAGENTS ON GROWTH, FLOWERING AND YIELD OF CHINA ASTER (CALLISTEPHUS CHINENSIS (L.) NEES.) CV. ARKA KAMINIG. KRISHNA, S.K. NATARAJ, M. HANUMANTHAPPA, D. LAKSHMANA, K.B. NAIK, R. RAJESHWARI AND M. P. RAGHAVENDRAAbstract A field experiment was conducted to know the effect of bioagents on growth and flowering of China aster cv. Arka Kamini at the department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Horticulture, Mudigere, during 2018-19. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with six bioagents were evaluated to know the influence on growth and flowering of China aster viz., Trichoderma asperellum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Arka Microbial Consortium (AMC), Azorhizophilus sp. (K solubilising bacteria), Bacillus subtilis, Trichoderma harzianum along with control as treatment and experiment was replicated thrice. Plant height (60.38 cm), number of branches (12.67), plant spread (568.82 cm2), minimum days to first flower (65.33 days), flower head diameter (5.75 cm), vase life (8.60 days), number of flowers per plant (48.60), flower yield per plant (119.56 g) and flower yield per hectare (13.28 tons) were observed maximum in Trichoderma harzianum and which was on par with Trichoderma asperellum and Bacillus subtilis recorded poor performance with respect to growth and flowering compared to other bioagents. While the maximum number of colonies at 90 days of application was observed in Arka Microbial Consortium of about 92.5 CFU and 62.5 CFU at 10-1 and 10-2 dilutions respectively, this was on par with Trichoderma harzianum of about 85 CFU and 53 CFU at 10-1 and 10-2 dilutions respectively. The studies have conclusively proved that Trichoderma harzianum significantly increased the number of flowers per plant and flower yield of China aster. |