Effect of weed control methods on growth, flowering and flower yield in African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to find out the effect of different weed control methods on growth, flowering and flower yield in African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda at the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh during the kharif season 2016-17. The experiment consisted of twelve treatments combination of different weed control methods. The results indicated that application of pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg/ha followed by one hand weeding at 30 DAT resulted in the maximum plant height (45.33 cm, 80.63 cm and 101.53 cm at 25,50 and 75 DAT, respectively), number of primary and secondary branches plant-1 (3.27, 6.87 and 10.67 primary branches and 8.60, 20.13 and 36.50 secondary branches at 25, 50 and 75 DAT, respectively), maximum plant spread (68.17 cm ), earliest 50 per cent flowering (47.00 days), significantly biggest flower (6.97 cm), maximum weight of flowers plant-1 (126.73 g.), flowers yield ha-1 (136.85 q). Similar treatment i.e. Pendimethalin 30% EC @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PE) followed by one Hand Weeding at 30 DAT resulted the highest B:C ratio (3.98) followed by Pendimethalin 30% EC @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PE) + Fenoxaprop - p-ethyl 9.3% EC @ 0.10 kg ha-1 at 30 DAT (PoE) with B: C Ratio (1:3.60) as compared to other treatments. The minimum values for these parameters were recorded in unweeded treatment.