Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.) is one of the most popular cut flowers in the world and occupies important position in the world flower industry. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of saline stress on growth and biochemical indices on 10 chrysanthemum germplasm. It was determined by performance comparisons against control tests (without NaCl treatment) which acts as an indicator. Germplasm selected for the experiment were Garden Beauty, Shanti, Red Stone, Basanti, Yellow Reflex, Arka Ravikiran, Anmol, Mother Teresa, Sweta Singar and Jaya. Salt stress had significant effects on plant growth, assimilator pigment content and prolineconcentration. With application of 150 mM NaCl, there is reduction of shoot growth, root growth, leaf area, leaf number, shoot dry weight and chlorophyll content, whereas level of proline increased with increase salinity. Shoot elongation was less sensitive to salinity than root growth, with significant reductions in root growth at high salinity levels (150 mM). The genotype- Garden Beauty (5.03%) recorded minimum shoot length reduction, whereas minimum shoot dry weight reduction was observed in Anmol (23.97%) with increasing salinity. The genotype Basanti (2.35%)recorded minimum reduction in root growth. Minimum reduction in photosynthetic pigments was observed in Mother Teresa (51.55%) and high accumulation of proline content was recorded in Sweta Singar (162.50%). The genotypes Mother Teresa, Anmol, Basanti and Sweta Singar were found to be tolerant due to enhanced photosynthetic pigments, proline concentration and better shoot and root growth with higher salinity.

Pollution is increasing at an alarming rate, especially in cities. The pollution may be air pollution (outdoor or indoor), noise pollution, water pollution or soil pollution which directly affects human health as well as work efficiency. In order to reduce air pollution indoor or outdoor, there is a great demand of potted plants. Plants helps in reducing carbon dioxide, benzene and nitrogen dioxide levels, and also increase humidity and keep the temperature down. India is bestowed with different agro climatic conditions and evaluation of potted plants for their suitability for different agro climatic zones has not been done. Most foliage plants are tropical in nature and the movement of these plants to subtropical regions will affect their growth. Therefore, the present investigation was carried out during 2014–16 at Division of Floriculture and Landscaping, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to identify the plant species suitable for Delhi and Northern plains. For this purpose twelve species/varieties of different potted plants were used.The potted plants were kept under two conditions—glasshouse and open for the evaluation of growth and development. Based on different morphological traits like plant height, spread, number of branches, leaves and biomass, it was observed that plants like song of India, Philodendron xanadu, money plant, Syngonium, Aglaonema, Cardboard palm and Crotons were suitable for indoor conditions while Dragon tree, Areca palm, Cordyline and Araucaria were suitable for outdoor conditions. However, China palm was found bestfor both indoor and outdoor conditions under Northern plains.

Mutations, induced or spontaneous, play an important role in inducing genetic variations in chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.). Isolation and purification of mutated tissue is impossible through conventional methods that results complete loss of the precious mutants due to lack of suitable techniques to isolate them through conventional methods. In the present investigation, an effort was made to develop efficient ray floret regeneration protocols to isolate, purify and establish a novel mutant which spontaneously appeared as chimera in the form of yellow flowers in chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) cv. Lalit (white). Maximum survival (82.0%) and callus formation (90.28%) in minimum duration (6.6 days) were recorded when the ray florets were pre-treated with mancozeb-45 (0.2%) + carbendazim (0.2%) + 8-HQC (200 mg/l) for 3 h followed by surface sterilized with HgCl2 (0.1%) for a duration of four minutes and cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) (4.0 mg/l) and NAA (1.0 mg/l). The maximum regeneration of micro-shoots (80%) from the ray floret induced callus was recorded on MS medium fortified with BAP (4.0 mg/l), NAA (0.5 mg/l) and gibberellic acid (GA3) (0.1 mg/l). MS medium supplemented with BAP (4.0 mg/l) + NAA (0.05 mg/l) + GA3 (0.1 mg/l) was found to be best for highest micro-shoot proliferation (92.0%). Highest rooting (86.0%) was induced after culturing the micro-shoots individually on half-strength MS medium fortified with 0.5 mg/l NAA and 50 g/l sucrose. Successful acclimatization of in vitro raised plantlets was done in glass jar with polypropylene cap filled with a mixture of sterilized coco-peat, soilrite and perlite (1:1:1) supplemented with half-strength MS inorganic salts. After 3-4 weeks of acclimatization, the plantlets were successfully transferred to ambient conditions and compared with the parent variety Lalit. The in vitro raised plants produced all bright yellow flowers as compared to the original variety Lalit with white flowers.

A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of zinc and iron on growth, yield and quality of chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. ) cv. Mayur 5 during 2016 and 2017. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications comprising nine levels of micronutrients, i. e. control (T1), ZnSO4 @ 0. 1% (T2), ZnSO4 @ 0. 2% (T3), ZnSO4 @ 0. 5% (T4), FeSO4 @ 0. 2% (T5), FeSO4 @ 0. 5% (T6), FeSO4 @ 0. 8% (T7), FeSO4 + ZnSO4 @ 0. 5% each (T8) and FeSO4 + ZnSO4 @ 0. 7% each (T9). Combined foliar spray of FeSO4 + ZnSO4@ 0. 5% recorded best results for number of branches per plant (37. 00), minimum days for flower opening (94. 67), petal length (2. 17 cm), petal width (0. 63cm), flower bud diameter (1. 339 cm), flower longevity (28. 00 days), single flower weight (1. 27g), plant dry weight (98. 33 g), number of flowers per plant (218. 33), flower yield per plant (218. 33g) and flower yield/m2 (2988. 62g). Maximum flower diameter and chlorophyll content (SPAD reading) was also recorded with individual spray of FeSO4 @ 0. 5% (T6). Among the treatment, ZnSO4 + FeSO4 @ 0. 5% (T8) gave best results for flower production and yield for chrysanthemum under open field conditions.

Efforts were made on augmentation of orchids germplasm in different parts of Mizoram, Pakyong (Sikkim) and Pedong (Darjeeling hills of West Bengal) during 2011-2013 to estimate the genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation and path coefficient in seventy nine diverse genotypes of orchids on 14 important quantitative traits. Germplasms were evaluated for various vegetative, floral and spike quality related traits. Flower quality characters like length of spike, length of internode of the spike, length of pedicel were found to be high in the species like Arundina graminifolia and Cymbidium aloifolium. However, the number of florets/spike was more in Oberonia orbicularis and Oberonbia iridifolia and Phaius tankervillae recorded biggest floret size. Spike longevity was found to be high in Dendrobium formosum and Vanda parishii. Spike yield was maximum in Dendrobium chrysanthum and Dendrobium eriaeflorum. The study revealed wide variation for all the characters indicating sufficient genetic variability to be exploited in breeding programme. The maximum value of PCV and GCV was recorded for floret diameter. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for plant height, leaves/pseudobulb, florets/spike, floret diameter and pedicel length. Selection on the basis of these characters would be more effective for the improvement of orchids. Spike length showed positive and highly significant association with spike longevity and number of florets/spike at genotypic and phenotypic level. Highly significant correlation of spike yield was found with pseudobulbs/plant, leaf dimensions, flowers/spike and number of spike/pseudobulb at both the levels of correlation coefficient.