Effect of Pinching and Growth Regulators on Plant Growth, Flowering and Seed Yield in African Marigold (Tagetes Erecta Linn.)

A field trial was conducted at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka), to find out the effect of two levels of pinching i.e., no pinching and pinching andeight levels of four plant growth regulators viz., CCC (750 and 1000 ppm), GA₃(100 and 200ppm), NAA (30 and 60 ppm) and ethrel (750 and 1000 ppm) in African marigold (Tagetes erecta Linn.) cv. Orange Double. The results revealed that pinching treatment had recorded significantly higher number of primary branches (12.0), flowers (61.8) and seed yield (18.2 g) per plant and per hectare (473.7 kg). The spray of GA₃ (200 ppm) recorded significantly higher plant height (101.2 cm), number of primary branches (14.4), flowers (68.6), seed yield per plant (20.6 g) and per hectare (531.5 kg), 1000 seed weight (3.3 g), germination (90%), field emergence (77.1%), root length (6.3 cm), shoot length (5.4 cm), seedling dry weight (11.4mg) and vigourindex (1059) followed by NAA (60 ppm) spray.