In regions of of the State of Puebla (Mexico), gladiolus (
Gladiolus grandiflorus
Andrews) production has had asexual propagation problems, which have caused losses for producers, who mostly produce their own vegetative seeds. The aim of this study was to evaluate some physical qualities and health characteristics of corms and cormels generated at four fertilization rates (FD, kg ha
-1): 65N-14.9P-171K-16.6Mg-31.2Ca-0.0B-0.0S (FD1); 40.5N-24P-171K-23Mg-37.2Ca-0.2B-8.5S (FD2); 81N-24P-171K-23Mg-37.2Ca-0.2B-0.0S (FD3); and 81N-24P-171K-23Mg-37.2Ca-0.0B-0.0S (FD-R; traditional regional rate). Two hundred and forty corms, along with their cormels, of two varieties (‘Borrega Roja’ and ‘Espuma’) produced at four FDs were harvested. The following physical qualities of corms were assessed; corm fresh weight (CFW), number of cormels generated (NcMC), and total fresh weight (TFW); evaluated physical qualities of cormels were size (mm) and total weight. Cormel health was analyzed in 160 randomly disinfested pieces that were plated in agar medium with or without splitting. The percentage of identified fungus incidence was recorded. Data were analyzed by a non-parametric one-way ANOVA. No significant differences were shown for CFW. The best treatments were mainly FD2 followed by FD1. In relation to FD-R, FD2 in both varieties increased NcMC by 31% to 69%, TFW by 27% to 46%, 6-8 size by 24% to 27%, and the development of
Fusarium oxysporum
colonies was reduced by 100% in cormel internal tissue.
