enhancement of growth performances of ophiopogon japonicas ornamental foliage plant

Ophiopogon japonicus is a perennial, ornamental foliage plant, whichbelongs to the family liliaceae. it has a high demand in the local andinternational export market due to the presence of glossy white-green strippedlanceolate leaves. improved leaves and plants of o. japonicus will be morepopular in the floriculture industry. hence, objective was to investigate thegrowth responses of o. japonicus for best potting media and fertilizertreatments. shoots of o. japonicus trimmed up to 4 cm from the root-shootjunction were potted in two potting media as soil type 1, coir dust, compostand sand as 1:1:1 and soil type 2, sand, coir dust 1:1 by volume. high nitrogenfertilizer, balanced fertilizer and high phosphorous fertilizer were applied asfoliar sprays in three concentrations (×1/2, ×1 and ×2 times of the rbg recommendeddosages) and distilled water was used as the control. there was asignificant (p < 0.05) effect of growing media on the o. japonicus leaf length,plant fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, number of leaves andnumber of shoots. however, there was no significant difference between thecontrol and fertilizer treatments on leaf length, shoot dry weight, number ofleaves and number of shoots while there was a significant difference amongfertilizer treatments on plant fresh weight and root dry weight. most effectivepotting media and fertilizer treatment for o. japonicus were sand:coir dustmedia (1:1) and royal botanic gardens, sri lanka-recommended dosage(rbg) of fertilizer treatments (high nitrogen (2.5 g/l), balanced (1.25 g/l)and high phosphorous fertilizer (2.5 g/l), respectively.