Impact of Hydroponics Technique on Root Characteristics and Physiological Parameters in Chrysanthemum

An experiment was conducted at Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat to investigate the response of root characteristics and physiological parameters of chrysanthemum under hydroponics technique. It was laid out on factorial completely randomized design. Total of three replications were done. Experimental variety was chrysanthemum cv. “Rajkumari”. Chrysanthemum plants were grown in seven different growing media combinations viz. M1: coco peat, M2: coarse sand, M3: cinder, M4: coarse sand cinder (1:1 v/v), M5: coarse sand and coco peat (1:1 v/v), M6: coco peat and cinder (1:1 v/v) and M7: coco peat, coarse sand and cinder (1:1:1 v/v) and two different concentrations of nutrient solution (modified Hoagland solution) viz. N1: EC 1.5 dS/m and N2: EC 1.8 dS/m. Results revealed that among different growing media, coco peat was found significantly superior to all other growing media in terms of favouring root characteristics which was followed by coco peat+ cinder. Meanwhile, among the nutrient solution concentrations, EC 1.5 dS/m was found superior to EC 1.8 dS/m. In terms of physiological characteristics, coco peat+ cinder was found significantly superior to all other growing media which was followed by coco peat + coarse sand + cinder. Meanwhile, among the nutrient solution concentrations, EC 1.8 dS/m was found superior to EC 1.5 dS/m for same parameters.