The field experiment was carried out at Floriculture farm of Horticulture Research Centre, BARI, Gazipur during rabi season of 2009-2010. Soil characteristics of experimental site are identified. Nutrient levels of investigated soils like N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Zn, B, Mn etc were found to be below and at par the critical levels. There were six treatment combinations comprising five levels each of N (50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg/ha), P (25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 kg/ha), K (50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg/ha) and S (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kg/ha) along with 10 ton cow dung/ha were included in the study.
The treatment combinations are as follows:
T1 = Native fertility T2 = N50P25K50S10 kg/ha
T3 = N100P50K100S20 kg/ha T4 = N150P75K150S30 kg/ha
T5 = N200P100K200S40 kg/ha T6 = N250P125K250S50 kg/ha
The field experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. The unit plot size and plant spacing were maintained by 2.0 m x 1.6 m and 50 cm x 40 cm, respectively. Gerbera (var. BARI Gerbera-1) was tested in the trial. The planting materials were sown on 15 December, 2009. All P, K, S and cow dung except N were applied and mixed up well with the soils during final land preparation. Nitrogen was applied in three equal installments. First one-third of N at 30 days, second top dress at 45 days and remaining one-third of N was applied at 60 days of sowing. Intercultural practices like weeding, irrigation, spraying pesticides etc were done in time. At different stages, opened and bloomed flowers were cut time to time for recording field data. Five plants from each plot were randomly selected for data collection. After compilation of field data, it was computed and analyzed statistically adjusting with LSD test at 5% level of significance.