Effect of Garlic and Licorice Extracts on Vegetative, Root and Floral Trait of Gazania splendes L.

Abstract

A greenhouse experiment was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, University of ALAnbar during 2017 season to investigate effect of spraying extracts of garlic and licorice root on vegetative, root and floral trait of Gazania splendes L. Treatments were randomly distributed under RCBD design with three replicates. Each treatment involved six plants. The design included two factors; one represented three concentrations of garlic extract viz. 0, 2 and 4 mlGex.l-1DH2O, the second one was four concentrations of licorice root extract viz. 0, 1, 3 and 5 gmLex DH2O. Results revealed that spraying of 2 ml garlic extract per liter causes the highest increase of leaves No., fresh weight, dry weight, root length, the time to flower opening, flowers No. and flower diameter of 59.83 leaf.plant-1, 51.67gm, 10.18gm, 46.70cm, 99.33d, 6.75 flower.plant-1 and 5.458 cm, respectively. Furthermore, licorice extract spraying at 1gm per liter gave significant increase on leaves No., fresh weight, dry weight, time to flower opening, flowers No. and flower diameter at 71.11 leaves.plant-1, 58.86gm, 12.39gm, 98.89d, 7.00 flower.plant-1 and 5.589 cm, respectively. The combinations of 2ml garlic.L-1 + 1gm licorice.l-1 achieved highest average fresh weight, dry weight, and time of flower opening of 74.21gm, 15.47gm and 93.67d, respectively. Thus, it could be concluded that spraying of garlic and licorice extracts were effective and efficient in improvement of vegetative, root and floral trait of Gazania.