Growth and flowering response of balsam (<i>Impatiens balsamina</i> L.) to soil textural class

Abstract

Soil quality have been a subject of great interest in floriculture. Sand, loam and clay are three main textural classes, different in nutrient and water holding capacities. Balsam (Impatiens Balsamina L.) is an annual bedding plant that produces varying beautiful flowers. Pot experiment was conducted concurrently at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria (Latitude 7°14′N and Longitude 3°26′ E) between April and August, 2017 to assess the growth and flowering response of hybrid Balsamina to soil textural classes. The experiment was a Completely Randomized Design with eight replicates. Treatments were, sandy clay (37.13 % clay, 9.42 % Silt and 53.45 % Sand), sandy loam 1 (17.2 % clay, 5.42 % Silt and 77.38 % Sand) and sandy loam 2 (19.13 % clay, 5.42 % Silt and 75.45 % Sand). Data collected on plant height, number of leaves, number of flowers, dry seed weight and plant biomass were subjected to analysis of variance using Genstat 12th edition (commercial version). Raising Balsam on sandy loam 1 and Sandy loam 2 significantly (p≤0.05) increased plant height (54.42 and 57.08 cm), number of leaves (58.50 and 61.17), cumulative number of flowers (32.02 and 33.07), dry seed weight (5.20 and 6.93 g/plant) and plant biomass (80.92 and 95.08 g/plant) than plants raised on sandy clay (46.08 cm/plant, 49.67/plant, 27.58/plant, 4.71 g/plant and 62.25 g/plant) respectively. Total Nitrogen (1.22 and 1.91 %), Magnesium (65.3 and 69.1 mg/kg) and average Phosphorous (993.8 and 1010.7 mg/kg) were higher in balsam grown on Sandy loam 1 and 2 respectively than Sandy clay. The study showed that soil textural class could influence growth and flowering of balsam. Sandy loam is adequate and recommended for the production of Balsam.