Effect of pinching and micronutrients on African marigold

The experiment on “Effect of pinching and micronutrients on African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.)” was carried out at Floriculture Research Farm, ASPEE College of Horticulture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with factorial concept replicated thrice with fourteen treatment combinations, consisting two levels of pinching viz., single pinching at 25 DAT (P1) and double pinching at 25 and 45 DAT (P2) and seven levels of micronutrients viz., ZnSO4 @ 0.5% (M1), FeSO4 @ 0.5% (M2), H3BO3 @ 0.5% (M3), ZnSO4 @ 0.5% + FeSO4 @ 0.5% (M4), ZnSO4 @ 0.5% + H3BO3 @ 0.5% (M5), FeSO4 @ 0.5% + H3BO3 @ 0.5% (M6) and ZnSO4 @ 0.5% + FeSO4 @ 0.5% + H3BO3 @ 0.5% (M7). Single pinching produced maximum plant height (107.43 cm), minimum days to first flower bud appearance (45.98), days to 50 per cent flowering (66.73), flower diameter (5.24 cm) and fresh weight of single flower (6.92 g). While, double pinched plants produced maximum number of primary branches (17.91), stem diameter (1.98 cm), plant spread (63.85 cm in E-W and 65.08 cm in N-S directions) at 90 DAT, duration of flowering (93.33 days), number of flower per plant (126.71), flower yield (552.57 g/plant, 7.42 kg/plot and (15.46 t/ha) along with better flower longevity and shelf life of flowers (22.19 and 4.43 days, respectively). Similarly, combined foliar application of micronutrients as ZnSO4 @ 0.5% + FeSO4 @ 0.5% + H3BO3 @ 0.5% (M7) was found best for all the growth attributes as well as flowering parameters under study. It also recorded maximum number of flowers per plant (131.83) and higher flower yield (593.63 g/plant, 8.16 kg/plot and 16.99 t/ha). So, it can be concluded that double pinching (P2) done at 25 and 45 DAT and foliar application of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% + FeSO4 @ 0.5% + H3BO3 @ 0.5% (M7) at 30 and 50 DAT enhanced all vegetative and flowering parameters along with yield of African marigold var. Punjab Gainda 1.