Influence of spacing and pinching on performance of african marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda

The persent experiment was conducted at the Bahadari Research Farm, Department of Floriculture and Landscaping Architecture, College of Horticulture, Mandsaur, RVSKVV, Gwalior from July 2018 to February 2019 so as to study the influence of spacing and pinching on performance African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda. Data revealed that spacing had significant effect on growth, and seed parameters of African marigold. Among the spacing, treatment S1 (45 x 45 cm) show the best results with respect of most of the parameters (plant spread, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, stem diameter weight of seeds per flower, 100 seed weight and seed yield per plant) while S3 (30 x 30 cm) show the best results with respect of plant height. Pinching had significant effect on growth and seed parameters except stem diameter (cm) of African marigold. Among the pinching, treatment P2 (double pinching) show the best results with respect of most of the parameters (plant spread, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, stem diameter) while P0 (no pinching) show the best results with respect of rest of the parameters (plant height, weight of seeds per flower, 100 seed weight and seed yield per plant). Although interaction had non-significant effect on growth and seed parameters except plant height (cm), number of secondary branches per plant and seed yield per plant of African marigold.