Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

INFLUENCE OF PLANT GROWTH RETARDANTS ON FLOWER QUALITY AND YIELD IN MARIGOLD (TAGETES ERECTA L.)

R.D. Pawar, P.V. Patil and S.D. Magar

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of Plant Growth Retardants on flower quality and yield of African marigold. Three plant growth retardants i.e. maleic hydrazide, cycocel and SADH (Alar) with three varying concentrations have been used and were evaluated against the two control treatments (control without pinching and control with pinching). All three plant growth retardants were significantly superior over the two control treatments in all aspects of flower yield and quality. SADH 2000 ppm treatment recorded significant delayed initiation of first flower bud (47.13 days), duration for opening of flower from flower bud emergence (24.00 days), duration of 50% flowering (81.57 days), increase in number of flowers per plant (36.57), yield of flowers per plant (232.21 g), per hectare (12.90 t) and highest vase life of flowers (7.0 days). SADH 1500 ppm recorded significantly maximum flower diameter (5.43 cm) and weight of 20 flowers (138 g), while SADH 1000 ppm gave significantly highest seed yield per flower (255 seeds). Cycocel 750 ppm recorded the significantly maximum flower stalk length (15.50 cm). Significantly highest 1000 seed weight was recorded in maleic hydrazide 500 ppm treatment.