A pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of three rates of krestalon compound fertilizer NPK (19:19:19) as 2, 4 and 6g/pot, garlic extract at 25, 50 and 100% and their combinations on growth, flowering and chemical constituents of Hedychium plants. Results showed that, NPK fertilizer at either 4 or 6g/pot with 50% garlic extract enhanced vegetative growth parameters in terms of plant height, shoot number/clump, number of leaves/main shoot and leaf area in both seasons. Besides, the highest values of fresh and dry weights of root and main shoot as well as the highest carbohydrate, N, P and K % were recorded in plant leaves fertilized with 4 or 6g/pot and sprayed with 50% garlic extract in both seasons. In addition, the highest flowering parameters such as main stalk length, main stalk diameter, inflorescence number/clump, rachis length, florets number/inflorescence, flowering spike fresh and dry weight were obtained from plants treated with 4 or 6g/pot NPK and sprayed with 50 or 100% garlic extract in both seasons. Also, the treatment of 4 or 6g/pot NPK and spraying with 50 or 100% gave the best vase life (days) and showed to be the superior one to induce earlier flowering as compared to control and other treatments. Therefore, it could be recommended that fertilizing Hedychium plants with compound fertilizer of NPK (19:19:19) at 4g/pot and spraying with garlic extract at 50% is considered the best and economic treatment used for enhancing growth, flowering and improving the nutritional status of the plant.

No abstract

Applying benzyladenine (BA) at 1 or 2 ppm to the culture medium at the establishment stage, proved to have a significant effect in increasing survival percentage of Cupressus macrocarpa explants. On the other hand, survival percentage of Conocarpus explants was not significantly influenced by the presence or absence of BA. The use of BA resulted also in the highest multiplication rates of both Cupressus macrocarpa and Conocarpus erectus, though the effect was insignificant with the first species. Leaving a heel on the explant of Conocarpus erectus showed significantly a superior effect in increasing shoot number, shoot fresh weight and leaf number.At the multiplication stage, the highest number of shoots resulted by using BA at 2 and 4 ppm for Cupressus macrocarpa and Conocarpus erectus, respectively. The highest contents of total chlorophyll and carotenoids of Cupressus macrocarpa shoots were those induced by applying kinetin at 6 ppm. Application of BA at 6 ppm to the culture medium was associated with a greater increase in these contents in the case of Conocarpus erectus.

Growing Cupressus macrocarpa shoots on Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium (MS) with IBA at 20 ppm for 7 days before sub-culturing on a medium free of plant growth regulators gave rise to the best possible rooting percentage with only one root/shoot. Rooting percentage of Conocarpus erectus rose significantly to its utmost with indolebutyric acid (IBA) at 5 ppm.