Growth and proliferation of bamboo ( Dendrocalamus strictus Roxb.) seedlings influenced by various growth regulators

Growth and proliferation behaviour of bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) seedlings was studied under varying concentrations of different growth regulators, i.e. cycocel, ethrel, GA3 and maleic hydrazide. Fresh and dry biomass were significantly increased with foliar spray of cycocel (100 mg/l), while maleic hydrazide (10 mg/l) was recorded most effective growth retardant. Ethrel (10 mg/l) promoted height of plants but had negative effect on the proliferation parameters. In the case of photosynthetic efficiency (chlorophyll fluorescence) GA3 (100 mg/l) promoted all fluorescence parameters over control except F0 but non-significantly, while cycocel (1000 mg/l) decreased all fluorescence parameters significantly except F0. Cycocel (100 mg/l), ethrel (1 mg/l) and maleic hydrazide (10 mg/l) also had negative effect on some chlorophyll fluorescence parameters.