Effect of Sodium Azide on Growth, Flowering and Corms of (Gladiolus grandiflorus) L. Cv. Rose Supreme Intercropping on Mulberry Field

This research aims to study genetic mutations and variations with best characteristics of Gladiolus grandiflorus L. cv. Rose supreme growth, flowering and corms by using sodium azide (SA), as well as, exploiting the empty space between mulberry field and studying the effect of this on silkworm , Bombyx mori L. traits. This experiment was conduct at mulberry field of the Sericulture Research Department Plant Protection Research Institute Agriculture Research Center Giza Egypt during seasons 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons. As factorial experiment was investigate the effects of sodium azide (SA) concentrations at (0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04 % and blank (distilled water) and corms soaking period at (2.0 , 4.0 and 6.0 hours) on growth, flowering and corms characteristics in two generations (G1 and G2) of G. grandiflorus plants. The results showed that all SA concentrations and corms soaking period had significant impacts on several traits of postharvest quality such as plant height, leaf length, number of leaves per plant, stem diameter, fresh and dry weight of plants, number of days to flowering, number of florets per stem, flower head diameter, length of spike, vase life, plant variations and flower color, number of new cormels, cormels diameter, corm fresh and dry weight compared with the control. All concentrations of SA caused morphological variations in flower colors. The highest values of all recorded characters were obtained with SA at 0.01% for 6 hrs followed by 0.02% at the same time of G and 1 G generations in all studied seasons as compared with control (untreated plants). No significant effect have 2 been recorded for mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori L. characters of cocoon weight, cocoon shell weight, pupae weight, cocoon shell ratio and silk productivity for females and males so using treated Gladiolus plant by sodium azide for intercropping with mulberry field is recommended to increase the income of agriculture land unite.