Effect of Plant Spacing and Integrated Nutrient Management on Yield and Quality of Seed and Vegetative Growth Parameters in African Marigold (Tagetes Erecta Linn.)

An experiment was conducted at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka), had 12 treatments comprising of six levels of fertilizers and two planting spacings viz., 60 x 40 and 60 x 60 cm in African marigold (Tagetes erecta Linn.) cv. Orange Double. The results revealed that the wider spacing (60x60cm) recorded more number of branches (11.6), flowers (59.6), seed yield per plant (15.4 g) and per hectare (453.5 kg) than closer spacing of 60 x 40 cm. However, an application of vermicompost as 50% RDN along with 50% RDF recorded significantly higher plant height (100.3 cm), maximum number of primary branches (13.1), flowers (66.2), seed yield per plant (18.6g) and per hectare (499.00 kg) and recorded higher 1000 seed weight (3.7g), root length (6.2 cm), shoot length (5.5 cm) and vigour index (1047) compared to RDF alone.