Response of staggered planting and pinching time on growth and flower yield of annual chrysanthemum

The experiment entitled “Effect of staggered planting and pinching time on growth and flower yield of annual chrysanthemum” during the year 2024-25 was undertaken at Horticulture Section, College of Agriculture, Nagpur. The treatment comprises of two factors; Factor A consist of four staggered planting dates viz., (Third week of September, first week of October, third week of October and first week of November) and Factor B consist of four pinching time viz., (No pinching, pinching at 30 DAT, pinching at 45 DAT and pinching at 30 and 45 DAT) in all sixteen treatment combinations planted in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications. Results revealed that, minimum plant height with maximum number of branches plant-1, diameter of stem, plant spread both the direction E-W and N-S were significantly recorded in the treatment planting on first week of October and treatment pinching at 30 and 45 DAT. The dwarf plant was obtained in treatment pinching at 30 and 45 DAT. Number of flowers plant-1 (51.18 and 53.88 respectively) was significantly recorded maximum in treatment planting on first week of October with treatment pinching at 30 and 45 DAT. Whereas, flower yield plant-1 (199.01 g and 201.19 g respectively), plot-1 (4.98 kg and 5.03 kg respectively) and hectare-1 (11.06 t and 11.18 t respectively) were significantly recorded maximum in the treatment planting on first week of October with treatment pinching at 30 DAT. As regard to the B:C ratio, the treatment planting on first week of October and treatment pinching at 30 DAT recorded maximum B:C ratio (1.60 and 1.62 respectively).