MSc

Hybrid marigold varieties with high yield potential and attractive income are available today in India and are preferred by farmers. However, the availability of seeds in bulk and the prohibitive cost of hybrid seeds in the market are the main constraints for the expansion of marigold cultivation in Kerala. Propagating through cuttings is cheap and convenient method. This method gives strong plants within short time and helps in preservation of all the characters and maintains purity of a particular variety. In order to overcome the constraints of seed cost and availability of hybrid seeds, propagation of marigold by cuttings is a viable option. So it is essential to standardize this propagation technique for producing quality planting material.
Hence, the study entitled “Vegetative propagation in African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) hybrid” was conducted in the Department of Pomology and Floriculture, College of Agriculture, Padannakkad and RARS, Pilicode during the period from 2016 to 2018 with three prime objectives.
The first experiment was intended to standardize the best age of the cuttings with respect to the rooting and survival of cuttings with four treatments i.e. cutting removed from mother plants at 30 DAT, 50 DAT, 70 DAT and 90 DAT. The second experiment was to find out the effect of growth regulator IBA at 3 levels of 0, 200, and 400 ppm, 3 different media (Soil + FYM 1:1), (Soil + Coir pith compost 1:1) and (Soil + Vermicompost 1:1) and their interaction with nine treatment combinations. The third experiment was to compare the performance of seedlings and rooted cuttings for their vegetative and yield parameters.
In the first experiment, results revealed that shoot and root parameters of rooted cuttings are influenced by age of mother plants. Number of leaves, leaf area, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, root length and root shoot ratio were found to be higher in rooted cuttings from 30-day old mother plants. The terminal cuttings from younger mother plants performed better with respect to growth parameters.
In the second experiment, both shoot and root parameters were found to be significantly influenced by IBA and rooting media. The root fresh weight, dryweight and root to shoot ratio recorded were significantly higher in rooted cuttings treated with IBA at 400 mg/l whereas cuttings treated with IBA 200 mg/l had made significant effect by recording maximum number of leaves, leaf area, shoot fresh weight and dry weight. The application of IBA 400 mg/l and planting in a medium of Soil + Vermicompost (1:1) was the best practice for vegetative propagation through rooting of cuttings because it resulted in better root length, rooting intensity and survival percentage.
The third experiment was designed to compare the performance of seedlings to those developed through rooted cuttings on morphological parameters and yield attributes. Seedlings were significantly taller, produced maximum number of primary branches and secondary branches at 30, 60 and 90 days after transplanting. Yield parameters such as number of flowers per plant (42.05), flower yield per plant (489.85g), flower yield per plot (9.8 Kg), flower yield per hectare (29.02 t/ha) and duration of flowering were significantly more in seedling originated plants. Seedlings also recorded maximum plant fresh weight and dry weight. plants from rooted cuttings flowered early, took significantly lesser number of days for 50% flowering and first harvest. Shelf life of marigold flowers were also more (7.05 days) in vegetatively propagated plants compared to that from seedlings (5.45 days). Plants raised from rooted cuttings recorded the maximum B:C (5.34 :1) ratio compared to seedlings (3.91:1).
Marigold can be propagated commercially through cuttings since we can obtain more number of plants from single mother plant which reduces the cost of cultivation, increases benefit to growers as well as helps to maintain the purity of varieties.