Response of China aster varieties to pinching

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out to study the response of China aster varieties to various pinching treatments at the farm of Horticulture section, College of Agriculture, Nagpur from October, 2017 to March, 2018 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 height, flowers plant-1, flower yield ha-1, flowering span and vase life of flower were registered with the variety Arka Kamini and it was statistically at par with Arka Archana and Arka Shashank with respect to plant height and vase life of flower. The earliest first flower bud initiation was recorded with variety Arka Archana. However, branches plant-1, flowers plant-1, flower yield ha-1 and flowering span were noticed significantly maximum with double pinching, whereas, plant height, diameter of flower and vase life of flower were noted maximum and earliest first flower bud initiation with no pinching treatment. An interaction effect was found non-significant with respect to all the parameters.