Impact of seasons and pinching on growth and flowering in African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.)

Two varieties of African marigold ( Tagetes erecta L.) were evaluated for three seasons from 2014 to 2015 to study the effect of season and pinching on growth and yield parameters of African marigold. The growth characters studied were plant height, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, leaf area, chlorophyll content and total biomass. The yield parameters studied included days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, days to first harvest, flower weight, number of flowers per plant, flower yield per plant and duration of flowering. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant difference between pinched and non pinched plants for characters like plant height, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, leaf area and total biomass. High variability was also found for yield parameters like days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, days to first harvest, and flower yield per plant, indicating that pinching had significant positive effect on growth, flowering and yield of African marigold. High variability was also found among different seasons in the growth and yield parameters studied. Plant height, leaf area, and total biomass were significantly high in S2 (monsoon); days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, and days to first harvest were significantly low in S3 (post monsoon); whereas, number of flowers per plant, and duration of flowering were significantly high in S1 (pre monsoon)