Growth, yield and quality of China aster varieties as influenced by pinching

Abstract

An investigation on “Growth, yield and quality of China aster varieties influenced by pinching” was carried out at College of Agriculture, Nagpur during 2017-18 to study the response of China aster varieties to various pinching treatments in factorial randomised block design with 12 treatment combinations comprising of four varieties of China aster as main factor viz., V1 – Arka Kamini, V2 –Arka Archana, V3 - Arka Shashank and V4 - Arka Adhya and three pinching methods as sub factor viz., P1 – No pinching, P2 –Single pinching and P3 –Double pinching replicated thrice. Single pinching was carried out on 30th day and double pinching on 30th and 45th day after transplanting. The results revealed that, significantly maximum plant spread and the earliest commencement of flowering and 50 per cent flowering were recorded with the variety Arka Archana, whereas, stem diameter was noted maximum with Arka Adhya. However, flower yield plant-1, weight of flower and blooming period were recorded highest with the variety Arka Kamini. In respect of pinching methods, plant spread, stem diameter, flower yield plant-1 and blooming period were noticed significantly maximum with double pinching, whereas, diameter and weight of flower were noted maximum and days for commencement of flowering and 50 per cent flowering were minimum with no pinching treatment. An interaction effect was found non-significant with respect to all the parameters.