Abstract:
Foliage plant industry in Sri Lanka often has to face difficulties due to problems associated with
the qualities of the final product of plant especially, pale green colour leaves and poor quality
shoots, which are not accept by the buyers in export market. An investigation was carried out to
develop the green colour and other qualities of Polyscias balfouriana “Marginata” (PBM) using
different shade levels within 10 weeks. Canes, 10 cm long were used as planting materials and
planted in coir beds under, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90 and 95% shade levels. Other qualities
evaluated for PBM were shoot length, leaf area, number of leaves per shoot. It was evident that
the preferable forest green colour was achieved significantly (p = 0.001) at the highest shade
levels of 85 and 90%. The leaf area of 14 cm2
and, sprout of 7 cm to 7.5 cm length also achieved
at highest shade levels of 85% and 90%. Percentage of canes with 3 or more than 3 leaves per
shoot was significantly higher than that of canes with less than 3 leaves at shade levels higher
than the control. The higher percentage of acceptable canes with 3 or more than 3 leaves was
found in shade level of 80%, 85% and 90 %. With these findings it can be concluded that the use
of high shade levels such as 85% and 90% at foliage nurseries are favorable to obtain quality
PBM plant for export market.
