Effect of pinching and spacing on growth, flowering and yield of African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) under semi-arid conditions of Haryana

The present study was conducted at experimental orchard of Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (Haryana), India with a view to optimize pinching time and spacing in African marigold for achieving better growth, flowering and yield. Design of the experiment was factorial Randomized Block Design with three replications. Experiment comprises of two levels of pinching (no pinching & pinching at 28 DAT i.e. Days After Transplanting) and three levels of spacing (40 x 40 cm, 40 x 30 cm & 30 x 30 cm) in all possible combinations. Maximum number of branches/plant (12.11), plant spread (63.59 cm), fresh weight of plant (358.79 g), number of buds/plant, duration of flowering (53.95 days), number of flowers/plant (54.54), stalk length and flower yield/plant (403.68 g) and flower yield/hectare (33.33 t) were significantly recorded in plants pinched at 28 DAT at 5% level of significance, whereas, maximum plant height (73.52 cm), flower diameter (6.38 cm), fresh weight of flower (8.93 g) was obtained in un-pinched plants. In case of spacing, maximum plant spread (64.01 cm), primary branches/plant (11.42), fresh weight of plant (370.20 g), number of buds/plant, number of flowers/plant (51.43), duration of flowering (53.98 days), flower diameter (6.42 cm), fresh weight of flower (9.03 g), flower yield/plant (460.42 g) was recorded at 40 x 40 cm, whereas, maximum plant height (71.76 cm), stalk length, flower yield/hectare (36.34 t) was observed with 30 x 30 cm. Results revealed that plants pinched at 28 DAT with widest spacing (40 x 40 cm) were found best for better growth, flowering and yield of African marigold