IMPLICATIONS OF DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF INORGANIC, ORGANIC, AND BIOFERTILIZERS ON GROWTH OF DAHLIA (DAHLIA VARIABILIS L.) CV. ZAIL SINGH

The study on the effect of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) on the growth and flowering of dahlia (Dahlia variabilis L.) aimed to explore the potential of combining organic and inorganic nutrient sources to enhance plant performance and was conducted at the HRC (Horticulture Research Center) of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut (Uttar Pradesh, India).The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with nineteen treatment combinations, each replicated three times.Findings from the experiment revealed the maximum plant height (105.02 0.44 cm), stem length (85.73 0.60 cm), and stalk length (29.40 0.31 cm) were recorded under the treatment T 17 , while plants integrated with T 12 resulted in maximum plant spread (35.18 0.35 cm), number of leaves (70.17 0.96), and number of branches (14.75 0.25 cm).Moreover, plants fertilized with treatment T 13 showed maximum leaf width (6.68 0.11 cm) and leaf length (9.90 0.11 cm).The character association studies revealed that leaf width (0.79), leaf length (0.73), plant height (0.56), and number of leaves (0.51) showed a significant positive correlation with plant spread, whereas stem length (-0.11) and number of branches (-0.06) showed a significant negative correlation with leaf width.This suggests that these are the potential traits for improving the vegetative growth of plants.