Field performance of marigold rooted (Tagets patula L.) cuttings on growth and flowering obtained from different growing media

Abstract

A field investigation entitled “Field performance of marigold rooted (Tagets patula L.) cuttings on growth and flowering obtained from different growing media” was conducted at Floriculture Unit, Department of Horticulture, Dr. PDKV, Akola during the years, 2016-17 and 2017-18. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The treatments comprised of twelve different propagating medias viz. soil, sand, vermicompost, FYM, cocopeat, soil + sand (1:1), soil+ vermicompost (1:1), soil + FYM (1:1), sand + vermicompost (1:1), sand + FYM (1:1), soil + sand + vermicompost (1:1:1) and soil + sand + FYM (1:1:1).The results of the experiment revealed that, performance of transplanted marigold plants in respect of growth parameters viz. plant height, leaves plant-1, branches plant-1,weight of fresh biomass as well as leaf area were noticed maximum in the plants obtained from the vermicompost media. Also similar results in respect of flowering parameters, significantly minimum days for emergence of first flower bud, days to 50 per cent flowering, days to first harvesting and maximum blooming period of marigold were observed in the plants obtained from vermicompost media. Whereas, significantly maximum plant spread was noted under the plants obtained from cocopeat media.