Propagation of Gladiolus corms and cormels: A review

Abstract

Gladiolus is an important estimated 8th in the world cut flower trade's cut flower grown throughout the world for its elegant attractive spikes of different hues and good keeping quality. The commercial cultivation of Gladiolus is based on natural multiplication of corms and cormels. However, multiplication rate of corms and cormels is slow and the conventional method of propagation is insufficient to meet the demand of planting material and eventually affect the final cost of corms. A number of improved conventional techniques including division of the corms, removal of leaf and flower spikes, use of standard corm size, and mechanical removal of sprouts can increase the multiplication rate of corms and cormels. These improved conventional methods of propagation are insufficient to meet the demand of planting materials. In vitro techniques are applicable for the propagation of corm producing species. These techniques are adopted at commercial level in order to fulfill supply gap of huge demand. A number of in vitro protocols have been developed for regeneration of Gladiolus plantlets using different media by using various explants sources of the plant. However, literature is rather scanty on in vitro cormel formation and acclimatization of in vitro propagules.

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“…El tamaño del cormo hijo es un factor que debe ser considerado por los floricultores, puesto que es indicador de las reservas de carbohidratos, nutrimentos y agua que contiene, con lo cual se determina su capacidad para producir tallos florales (De Hertogh y Le Nard, 1993) así como el desarrollo y la calidad de los mismos (Noor-Un-Nisa et al, 2016). Sin embargo, también es importante dar atención al contenido nutrimental de los cormos hijos, pues estos constituyen las reservas para el crecimiento inicial de las plantas del siguiente ciclo de cultivo.…”

“…The size of the daughter corm is a factor that has to be considered by flower growers, because it is an indicator of reserves of carbohydrates, nutrients and water content, which determines its capacity to produce floral stems (De Hertogh and Le Nard, 1993) as well as their growth and quality (Noor-Un-Nisa et al, 2016). However, it is also important to pay attention to the nutritional content of the daughter corms, because these nutriments constitute the reserves for initial growth of the plants the next growing season.…”

In-vitro Response of Gladiolus (var. American Beauty) towards Plant Growth Regulators Using Cormel Explants

“…However, it is limited due to low rate of multiplication to meet the local demand. The commercial production of corms and cormels is also greatly affected by Fusarium corm rot and high percentage of spoilage of corms during storage leading to the non-availability of enough planting material [4]. Besides, one mother corm normally produces 1-2 daughter corms and about 25 cormels each season 6 .…”

The Effects of Growth Regulators and Apical Bud Removal on Growth, Flowering, and Corms Production of Two Gladiolus Varieties

“…Commercially, gladiolus is propagated by the natural multiplication of corms and cormels [4,6]. However, the multiplication rate is low, which restricts the production.…”

“…Breeding new cultivars with a more rapid multiplication rate is one, and in vitro propagation is another. However, breeding takes many years and in vitro is costly [6,7]. Therefore, we suggest examining if current cultivation practices could be modified, e.g., by using growth regulators and apical bud removal to speed up the multiplication rates.…”