Organic Manures and Bio-inoculants Mediated Influence on growth and Flowering of African Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda

Abstract

Marigold (Tagetes sp.) is an ornamental annual suitable for commercial cultivation in Indian plains as a loose flower. West Bengal is considered as a prominent producer of this flower in India. In northern part of West Bengal due to suitability of agro-climatic condition enormous scope for commercial cultivation of African marigold has already been realized. The present experiment was carried out at Instructional Farm of Faculty of Horticulture under Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya during winter season of 2015−2016 with the organic sources which are easily available eco friendly and sustainable. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block design containing seven treatments comprising of poultry manure, farm yard manure, vermicompost, mustard oil cake and bio-fertilizer like Azotobactor, phosphorous solubilizing bacteria along with control replicated thrice with a seedlings of twenty eight days old were transplanted in a plot size of 2x2 m 2 following a spacing of 45×30 cm 2. Results revealed that application of organic sources at optimum dosage showed an increased and improved results interms of growth and flowering as compared to control. Among all the treatments poultry manure at 15 t ha-1 significantly improved the plant height, plant spread, branch production leaf chlorophyll content, earliness in flowering, duration of flowering, floriferousness, fresh weight of flowers and obviously the flower yield of African marigold followed by mustard oil cake application as foliar application.

Influence of Organic and Inorganic Inputs on Vegetative, Flowering and Yield Attributes of Marigold cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda

“…The increased marigold flower size might be attributed to the enhanced vegetative growth, facilitated by the improved nutritional condition of the soil through the added organic inputs. These findings of Dash et al [24] Swathi et al [5,16] in marigold are in line with the present findings.…”

“…The increased plant spread could also be ascribed to the development of an increased number of leaves, which ultimately increased the photosynthesis activity and photosynthetic translocation to various parts of the plants, and in turn increased plant spread. These findings are in consistent with those of Swathi et al [16] in marigold, Chander et al [121] in marigold.…”

“…Furthermore, it may lead to the breakdown of apical dominance and hence the emergence of axillary buds, leading to an increased number of primary branches per plant. Similar findings have also been reported by Premkumar et al [13] in chrysanthemum, Swathi et al [16] in marigold, Kumar et al [14] in chrysanthemum.…”

“…The increase in flower production might be attributed to the use of organic inputs, which improved the soil productivity and fertility through increased supply of both macro and micro nutrients and enhanced physical and biological conditions. [5,16] However, the flower yield recorded in the present investigation was comparatively less than the recorded in findings of others. This might be due to the extreme weather conditions (rainfall) prevailed during the reproductive stage in the experimental location.…”