Growth and physiological response of indoor plants species to different nutrient formulations suitable for Indoor vertical gardening Gautam Bharti1, Dubey R K1,*, Dubey Manisha2, Kaur Nirmaljit3, Choudhary O P4 1Department of Floriculture & Landscaping, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab 2Department of Vegetable Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab 3Department of Botany, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab 4Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab *Corresponding author: rkdubey.res@gmail.com
Online published on 28 September, 2023. Abstract There is no information available in India regarding the fertigation schedule for the growth and development of indoor plant species suitable for indoor vertical gardening. The current investigations were conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India with the objective to determine the optimum fertigation schedule of nutrient formulations for a successful installation of a vertical garden by using four indoor plant species Schefflera arboricola, Dracaena godseffiana, Aglaonema angustifolium and Philodendron selloum to make interior beautiful as well as to add cleaner air for healthy environment. These indoor plant species were grown in soilless media consisting of cocopeat, perlite and vermiculite in the ratio 3:1:1 with four concentrations of Hoagland nutrient solution (25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 % of Hoagland’s solution) and the fifth concentration was self-composed nutrient formulation placed horizontally inside the rooms. Experimental design was factorial completely randomized design keeping three replications in each treatment. Plant growth and leaf nutrient accumulation was maximum when the plants were fertigated with 100 % of the Hoagland’s solution (NF IV). Thus, based on their performance these indoor plant species were further planted for indoor vertical garden using fertigation schedule of NF IV. The order of performance of the species evaluated on the basis of growth, chlorophyll and nutrient accumulation were Aglaonema angustifolium >Schefflera arboricola> Philodendron selloum> Dracaena godseffiana. The accumulations of nutrients by ornamental plants were highly variant between species and this information could be used for further fertigation scheduling of indoor vertical gardening. Top Keywords Hoagland solution, Indoor ornamental species, Indoor vertical garden, Macronutrients, Nutrient formulations. Top |