Evaluation of french marigold (Tagetes patula L.) genotypes for growth, flowering and yield parameters

An experiment was carried out to evaluate French marigold (Tagetes patula L.) genotypes for growth, flowering and yield parameters. Significant variations were observed among twentyfive genotypes for all the parameters under the study. Among the genotypes evaluated, maximum plant height (64.90 cm) was recorded in Pusa Arpita and the maximum plant spread (East-West = 40.80 cm and North-South = 43.00 cm) was observed in IC-250316 and Pusa Deep, respectively. The maximum number of primary branches (14.10) were observed in UHSFm-4 and the number of secondary branches were maximum in UHSFm-1 (25.40). Days to first flowering (46.90 days) was minimum in UHSFm-10 and the longer blooming period (53.15 days) was noticed in Bonanza Mix. The maximum number of flowers per plant (143.10) was recorded in IIHRFm-13. The highest fresh flower yield and dry flower yield was recorded in Pusa Deep (388.05 g/plant and 48.51 g/plant).