EFFECT OF GA3, PP333 AND/OR PINCHING ON GROWTH AND FLOWERING OF ASTER ERICOIDES CV "MONTE CASINO" UNDER PROTECTED CULTIVATION

This research was carried out at Ornamental farm, Department of
Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shoubra
El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt. During two seasons (2017-2018 and 2018-
2019) to study the effect of GA3, PP333 and/or Pinching treatments on
vegetative growth and flowering of Aster ericoides cv "Monte Casino"
plants. The treatments GA3 at different concentrations (0, 100 and
200 ppm) and PP3333 at different concentrations (0, 50 , 100 and 200
ppm) all the treatments were with pinching or without pinching of
apical buds for each plant .GA3 at 100 ppm gave heighst value of
flower stalk diameter (0.49 cm) in the two seasons under study. In
case of flowering parameters such as No. of flowers ( 293) , and fresh
weights of plants (52.62 g) the best results were obtained when PP333
at 50 ppm without pinching treatment were used. According to these
results it was advisable to use PP333 at 50 ppm without pinching and
GA3 at 100 ppm to increase flowering growth of Aster "Monte
Casino" plants. The heighst values of micro-elements in the plant
composition were obtained with Fe,Zn,Mn and Cu, respectively.Also,
there were no significant differences between all the treatments for
much of the remain parameters for the two season of the study.