STUDIES ON EFFECT OF PINCHING AND GROWTH REGULATORS ON GROWTH, FLOWERING AND YIELD OF AFRICAN MARIGOLD (Tagetes erecta L.) cv PUSA NARANGI GAINDA

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of pinching and growth regulators on growth, flowering and yield of African marigold. The application of GA3 (200 ppm) recorded significantly higher vegetative parameters viz., plant height, plant spread, stem diameter, number of primary, chlorophyll content of leaves, fresh weight of plant at harvest. Among the pinching treatments, double pinching recorded significantly higher plant spread, stem diameter, number of primary branches, chlorophyll content of leaves, fresh weight of plant at harvest, whereas plant height and flower size was found maximum with no pinching. As regards to flowering characters, days to first flowering and 50 per cent flowering was significantly reduced by the application of GA3 at 200 ppm. Period of bloom, flower diameter, fresh weight of flower per plant and flower yield was also improved with the application of 200 ppm GA3. Among the pinching treatments, double pinching recorded maximum period of bloom, number of flowers, fresh weight of flowers per plant and flower yield followed by single pinching. However, maximum flower diameter was noticed with no pinching. Seed yield characters viz., 1000 seed weight and seed yield per plant and per ha were increased considerably with GA3 at 200 ppm. Among the pinching treatments, maximum 1000 seed yield per plant and per ha were obtained under double pinching.