Table 5. Growth data of Deli x La Mé cross during the prenursery phase.

Variable Before 
planting
Days after planting
37 51 63 77 90 126
Plumule length 1.4 ±0.3            
Radicle length 1.5 ±0.6 16.9 ±1.6 23.1 ±1.9 20.7 ±1.5 25.7 ±3.8 23.0 ±3.5 31.9 ±2.6
No of adventicious roots 1.5 ±1.3 3.5 ±1.7 4.3 ±1.7 3.0 ±2.9 3.0 ±2.4 3.5 ±2.9 1.3 ±1.5
Length of adventicious roots   2.5 ±0.8 3.4 ±1.4 2.1 ±2.0 5.1 ±2.8 2.6 ±0.8 1.5 ±2.0
No of primary roots     0.0 ±0.0 0.3 ±0.2 0.8 ±0.1 1.3 ±0.3 3.2 ±0.3
Length of primary roots     2.7 ±4.1 4.9 ±4.1 7.9 ±5.0 12.7 ±2.0 16.4 ±0.7
Bulb diameter (mm)   5.14 ±0.48 5.89 ±0.35 5.64 ±0.49 6.17 ±0.48 8.08 ±0.76 12.16 ±0.78
Length of the youngest completed formed leaf (cm)     13.6 ±0.8 15.7 ±0.9 22.0 ±0.7
Width of the youngest completed formed leaf (cm)     3.3 ±0.2 3.6 ±0.5 5.4 ±0.3
No of leaves totally open         1.9 ±0.2 2.2 ±0.1 3.9 ±0.1
Root dry weight (g)   0.0633 ±0.0068 0.1172 ±0.0254 0.0961 ±0.0179 0.1496 ±0.0162 0.2243 ±0.0617 0.6528 ±0.0557
Aerial part dry weight (g)   0.1498 ±0.0927 0.2473 ±0.0511 0.2662 ±0.0338 0.4449 ±0.0077 0.9081 ±0.2403 2.3547 ±0.1515
Total dry weight(g)   0.2131 ±0.0973 0.3645 ±0.0614 0.3623 ±0.0517 0.5925 ±0.0191 1.1323 ±0.2985 3.0075 ±0.1895

        Numbers are means and standard deviation of a sample of 24 plants, except for data taken before planting, where the sample was of 256 germinated seeds.