Impact of seed priming treatments and paclobutrazol applications on growth, flowering and seed yield in Salvia splendens Sellow ex. Schult.

An investigation was carried out to assess the effect of seed priming treatments and foliar application of paclobutrazol, on growth, flowering and seed yield attributes in “Salvia splendens”. The study was structured using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with sixteen treatment combinations replicated thrice with plot size of 1.0 × 1.0 m and followed spacing as 30 × 30 cm. Among the seed priming treatments, priming of seed in cow dung slurry for 24 hr significantly improved all the growth, flowering and yield parameters under study. Whereas, among different doses of paclobutrazol, spraying of plants with 10.0 ppm paclobutrazol resulted in the highest values for plant spread (39.04 cm), number of branches per plant (10.78), number of spikes per plant (15.42), number of florets per spike (50.31), number of pods per plant (460.80), seed yield per plant (6.48 g), per plot (58.27 g) except plant height (42.42 cm) and spike length (12.81 cm) which were highest in control. The treatment combination, SPT2 × PD3 i.e. seed priming with cow dung slurry for 24 hr and foliar application of paclobutrazol at 10 ppm, exhibited highest values for plant spread (42.34 cm), number of branches per plant (12.03), number of spikes per plant (16.83), number of florets per spike (60.67), number of pods per plant (546.03), seed yield per plant (7.36 g), per plot (16.83 g). However, the control lot (SPT2 × PD1) revealed maximum values for plant height and spike length as well. Accordingly, it may be inferred from the outcomes of the investigation that seed priming with cow dung slurry for 24 hr along with the foliar application of paclobutrazol at 10.0 ppm is an appropriate treatment combination for promoting the growth, flowering and seed production in salvia.