Abstract:
Clitoria ternatea L., commonly known as blue butterfly a medicinal plant
serves as rich source of antioxidants, flavonoids and peptide that use to curemany
ailments. However, a suitable propagation media has not been developed for
promoting the cultivation. Hence, this study was carried out at the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Peradeniya, to explore the effective growing media on seed germination and
subsequent plant growth. Four different types of growing media including sand: leaf
manure (1:1) (T1), sand:leaf manure:top soil (1:1:1) (T2), sand:leaf manure:cow dung
(2:2:1) (T3) and sand: leaf manure:cocopeat (2:2:1) (T4) were used and the experiment
was arranged in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with eight replicates under
shade net house conditions. The results indicated that potting media had significantly
effected on seed germination percentage and subsequent plant growth (P<0.05). The
highest germination percentage was observed in T2 (sand: leaf manure: top soil
(1:1:1)) media (72.5 %), conversely, T3 (sand: leaf manure: cow dung (2:2:1)) had the
lowest (40 %). This might indicate that the former media have the capacity to provide
idealized ratios of moisture, intrinsic gas transfer properties than latter media.
Moreover, T4 (sand: leaf manure: cocopeat (2:2:1)) media denoted the vigorous plant
growth and highest plant height at 3 week after germination (10.9 cm). This might due
to supplying of balanced plant nutrients than the other counterparts. Therefore, based
on the overall performances, T2 (sand: leaf manure: top soil (1:1:1)) media can be
recommended for seedling germination while transferring seedlings toT4(sand: leaf
manure: cocopeat (2:2:1)) will ensure subsequent plant growth and development.
