Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii L.), a high-value cut flower of the family Asteraceae is used as fresh and dry flower, aesthetic decoration, making of bouquet with high demand in the domestic as well as export market. In topical and sub-tropical environment it is grown under protected cultivation.
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of six cultivars of gerbera, viz., Stanza, Dana ellene, Intense, Dune, White House and Artist for growth, productivity and floral quality under forced ventilated polyhouse with fan-pad cooling system and micro-climate managed by internet of things (IoT).
The present investigation was carried out during 2018-2019 at the Protected Cultivation Unit of M.S. Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi, Odisha. The experiment was placed in Randomized Block Design and replicated four times.
Among the cultivars considered, there was significant difference in terms of vegetative growth, floral characteristics and yield. The maximum plant height (45 cm) was found with Stanza and the cultivar White House recorded the highest number of leaves (30.3) during 100 days after planting. But the cultivar Dana ellene showed its superiority in terms of floral characters like stalk length (62.3 cm), basal girth of the stalk of flower (0.70 cm) and flower diameter (12.8 cm) with more yield.