Varietal Evaluation of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) in Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse under Prayagraj Agro-climatic Condition

Carnation, scientifically known as Dianthus caryophyllus, is a popular and attractive flowering plant that belongs to the Caryophyllaceae family. Native to the Mediterranean region, carnations are now cultivated all over the world for their beauty and fragrance. Therefore, present investigation was carried out at the Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh during the Winter-2022-23 with a view to determine the performance of different varieties of carnation for its growth and flowering under ventilated polyhouse. Under this experiment, overall, 6 varieties were used comprising of variety Cerventes, Master, Magno, Baltico, Realism and Kiro. It was concluded that variety Baltico (white) reported significantly better performance compared to other varieties, in terms of Growth parameters like plant height was seen in cervantes (25.19 cm), number of leaves were maximum in master (20.94), number of internodes was highest in realism (18.49), number of branches were seen to be maximum in baltico (4.47), Kiro was found to be less suited variety for Prayagraj agro climatic condition due to metabolic activity. Flowering parameters like days to first flower bud break (65.33 days), days taken for first flower bud opening (66.00 days) was seen in Master, Flower Stalk length was seen highest in Realism (40.80 cm), number of flowers per plant was seen in cervantes (5.17), number of days taken for flower senescence on plant was seen highest in kiro (15.40 days), the vase life in carnation was seen to be the highest in master (0.40 days).