Flower yield, quality and consumer acceptance in daisy (Aster amellus L.) genotypes

An investigation was carried out to evaluate the performance of eleven daisy genotypes with respect to various flowering, yield and quality parameters at Kittur Rani Channamma College of Horticulture, Arabhavi. The genotypes Dwarf Pink, showed earliness in first flowering and 50 per cent flowering (57.09 and 64.18 days, respectively) followed by Dark Blue Dwarf (62.76 and 67.11 days, respectively) while, delayed first flowering and 50 per cent flowering was noticed in Star White Daisy (76.22 and 81.25 days). Maximum number of spikes per plant and spike yield per hectare (7.20 and 24.00 lakh/ha/year) was observed in Light Blue Tall followed by White Tall (6.33 and 21.11 lakh/ha/year) and Purple Multipetal (6.13 and 20.44 lakh/ha/year). Light Blue Tall (86.48 cm) had longer flower spike compared to other cultivars. However, Dwarf Pink was inferior to all other cultivars by producing weaker and short flower spike (26.08 cm) with shorter rachis length (24.66 cm). Maximum flower size was observed in Sky Blue (3.52 cm), whereas minimum was noticed in Star White Daisy (1.25 cm). Among the genotypes studied, vase life was more in Light Blue Tall (6.28 days) followed by Purple Multipetal (4.82 days). The genotype, Star white daisy scored maximum for appearance and overall acceptability based on consumer acceptability.