AbstractAn investigation was done to study the impact of biostimulants on the performance of Petunia (Petunia x hybrida) during the year 2023 in the research cum instructional farm, Department of Horticulture, SAS, Nagaland University. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 8 distinct treatments, viz., T1 (Control), T2 (EM), T3 (IEM), T4 (Jeevamrutha), T5 (Beejamrutha), T6 (Vermiwash), T7 (Bokashi tea) and T8 (Organic liquid compost) replicated three times was used to examine the vegetative, flowering and economic parameters. The vegetative parameters were found to be superior in the plants receiving treatment T2: (Effective Microorganisms) (EM) where maximum number of primary branches (8.80), (14.27) at bud emergence and full bloom respectively, number of secondary branches (9.00), number of leaves (33.40), (71.20) at bud emergence and full bloom, stem girth (0.540 cm), (1.46 cm) at bud emergence and full bloom, plant spread (21.77 cm), (35.43 cm) at bud emergence and full bloom and leaf area (15.28 cm2) were observed. The plant height and internodal length were recorded the maximum with T4: (Jeevamrutha). Flowering parameters were also found to be superior in the plants receiving T2: (Effective Microorgansims) (EM). Minimum days to bud emergence (20.19 days), days to first bloom (27.80 days), number of flowers per plant (66.27), flowering duration (103.1 days) and days to first flower wilt (9.20 days) was observed in the same. Flower diameter was found to be superior in T3: (Indigenous Effective Microorganisms) (IEM). Treatment T2: (EM) also resulted in greater benefit cost ratio with higher gross and net incomes.
Shitiri et al. (2025) studied this question.