Effect of Various Growing Substrates on Growth and Development of Ponytail Palm (Beaucarnea recurvata Lem.)
Effect of Various Growing Substrates on Growth and Development of Ponytail Palm (Beaucarnea recurvata Lem.)
Aimen Raza1, Muhammad Muzamil Ijaz1,2*, Adnan Younis1, Nasir Ahmad Khan3, Ahsan Akram1, M. Abdul Salam khan2 and M. Nadeem4
ABSTRACT
The ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata Lem.) is a member of the asparagaceae family and is used as an indoor and outdoor ornamental plant. In horticulture, using sustainable growing substrates is an appropriate method of environmental management and provides nutrients to the plants. The goal of this study was to use plant-based substrates as growing mediums for ponytail palm production. The research was conducted at Lalazar Nursery, Gardening Wing Estate Management, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. There were eight treatments and each treatment was replicated three times, with three plants each. Different plant-based materials, including leaf compost, coco peat, and peat moss was used to ensure the quality growth and development of the ponytail palm. The experiment was arranged according to a completely randomized design (CRD). The collected data was analyzed using the Fisher’s analysis of variance technique, and treatment means were compared using Tukey’s test at a 5% probability level. The results regarding maximum plant height (86.05 cm), number of leaves per plant (58.33), leaf length (100.70 cm), leaf width (0.97 cm), fresh leaf weight (0.91 g), leaf total chlorophyll content (136.40 SPAD), photosynthetic rate (118.33 μmol m2s-1), transpiration rate (0.33 mmol m2s-1), epidermal cell area (1.00 μm2), metaxylem cell area (0.45 μm2), cortical thickness (7.50 μm) and xylem thickness (7.40 μm) were recorded in T5 coco peat 50% + leaf compost 50% and T6 peat moss 50% + leaf compost 50% showed maximum dry leaf weight (0.09 g). Maximum EC (5.3 dS/m), pH (8.5), N (2.1 %), P (43.3 ppm), and K (285.12 ppm) were observed in T4 coco peat 50% + peat moss 50%. Minimum values regarding most parameters were studied in the control treatment (garden soil) due to poor chemical properties and the low availability of nutrients.
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