Plant Spacing Combined with Nitrogen Nutrition Affects Loose Flower Production in Rosa gruss-an-teplitz Under Open Conditions

The present investigation to study the effect of nitrogen and planting density for open grown roses for loose flower production was carried out at Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during 2020-21. Two years old plants were used for this study which were planted at three different spacings 70 x 100 cm, 70 x 90 cm and 70 x 80 cm. The plants were fertilized with four levels of nitrogen 0 g, 1.5 g, 2.0 g and 2.5 g per plant at monthly interval starting from pruning. The experiment was laid out in FRBD Design with twelve treatments each having three replications. The treatment combination comprising of 2.0 g nitrogen per plant per month with plant spacing 70 x 100 cm resulted in maximum plant height (109.83 cm), plant spread (95.67 cm), flower diameter (6.83 cm), flower weight (3.45 g), number of flowers per plant (389.66), flower yield (0.85 kg) per plant and hence, flower yield (3348.47 kg) per acre. The flowering was recorded earlier in 2.0 g nitrogen under spacing 70 x 100 cm as it exhibited flowering in 64.00 days. The shelf life of flowers was recorded maximum (10.87 hrs) with 1.5 g nitrogen under 70 x 100 cm spacing which was statistically at par with 2.0 g nitrogen under 70 x 100 cm spacing.