Published Paper Details:

An investigation was carried out to study the relative performance of two indoor foliage plants, Aglaonema cv. Silver Queen and Dieffenbachia cv. Tropic Snow grown in various media compositions in form of a pot culture trial in the Department of Horticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Siksha �O� Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar in an agro shade net house with 70 per cent shade during the period between October 2018 to April 2019. The trial was conducted in form of a Factorial Experiment following Completely Randomized Design with three replications and consisted of two factors viz., potting media and in door foliage plants as treatments. In the present investigation five media compositions viz., M1(2 parts of garden soil+ 1 part of FYM), M2 (2 parts of garden soil + 1 part of coarse sand +1 part of FYM), M3 (2 parts of garden soil +1 part of coco peat ), M4 (2 parts of garden soil +1 part of coarse sand +1 part of coco peat) and M5 consisting of 2 parts of FYM + 1 part of coco peat were used in which the ingredients were mixed on volume basis. The performances of the two indoor foliage plant species viz., (S1) Aglaonema and (S2) Dieffenbachia were evaluated in the above mentioned potting media for various growth and quality parameters. The results of the study revealed that among various combinations of M x S1, performance of Aglaonema grown in media M5 composed of 2 parts of FYM + 1 part of coco peat was most satisfactory with respect to almost all parameters. Growth parameter like leaf area and scoring for quality parameters like colour grade and visual plant grade were significantly higher under this treatment combination. Besides, parameter like plant spread also recorded highest value which was at par with either M2S1 or M4S1 combinations. Performance of Aglaonema (S1) under M4 ie.2 parts of garden soil +1 part of coarse sand + 1 part of coco peat (M4S1) was next to M5S1 which recorded higher values for leaf area, plant spread and stem diameter while parameters like colour grade and visual plant grade was improved under M2S1 ( ie. Aglaonema grown in 2parts of garden soil +1 part of coarse sand + 1 part of FYM ) combination next to M5S1. Performance of M3S1 combination ie. Aglaonema grown in 2 parts of garden soil + 1 part of coco peat was found unsatisfactory for various parameters which recorded the lowest scoring for visual plant grade and significantly lower score for colour grade. Besides, the performance of M1S1 combination ie. Aglaonema grown in 2 parts of garden soil +1 part of FYM wav more less similar with respect to different parameters under study. Various combinations of MxS2 ie. Dieffenbachia grown in different media compositions followed more or less similar trend as observed in MxS1 combination. Plants of Dieffenbachia grown in media M5 (2 parts of FYM + 1 part of coco peat) recorded significantly higher values for plant spread, visual scoring for colour grade and plant grade in addition to maximum basal diameter although this parameter was not significantly influenced . Performance of M4S2 combination ie. Dieffenbachia grown in 2 parts of garden soil + 1 part of coarse sand + 1 part of coco peat was also better which recorded highest individual leaf area followed by and at par with M5S2. Besides, plant spread, basal stem diameter and scoring for visual plant grade were also improved next to M5S2 combination. On the other hand scoring for colour grade was improved under M2S2 next to M5S2 combination. Significantly lower plant spread and scoring for colour grade were observed under M3S2 combination. Besides, lowest values were also recorded for basal stem diameter and visual grade of plants under this treatment combination. Performance of plants with respect to all the parameters under M1S2 combinations was found to be unsatisfactory.