Effect of Pinching on Growth, Flowering and Yield attributes in Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) in Vaishali district of Bihar

Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) is one of the most important commercial flower crops which is widely cultivated for its loose flower purpose all over India. Although it occupies 1 st position in loose flower cultivation in India as well as in Bihar, but still no technologies or procedures have yet been standardized for increasing its productivity. Hence, the present investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of pinching technology on growth and flower yield in marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) var. Ladoo Genda for two consecutive years at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Vaishali. Three levels of pinching were done viz., Farmers Practice- no pinching, TO 1 – early and double pinching at 30 and 40 DAT, and TO 2 – late and do ble pinching at 40 and 60 DAT and it was laid out using RBD with three replications. Pinching means removing the terminal growing portion of stem to break the apical dominance which increases the production of more side branches and ultimately enhances the flower yield. A plant generally grows straight up due to apica dominance. No such type of research has been carried out in the state to standardize the horticultural practices for flower farmers' and commercial growth of this flower crop. Therefore, an effort was made to standardize one of such practice in Vaishali district of Bihar. The results revealed significant variations among all the treatments. Early and double pinching at 30 and 40 DAT increases the flower yield per plant (516.49 g) as well as per hectare (33.70 t/ha) as compared to non-pinched plants (383.07 g) per plant and (24.45 t/ha). Therefore, early and double pinching at 30 and 40 DAT can be recommended for the farmers of Vaishali district of Bihar.