Plant growth and seed yield in annual chrysanthemum as influenced by growth chemicals and pinching

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Horticulture Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi to know the effect of pinching, gibberelic acid (GA3) and salicylic acid (SA) on growth and seed yield characters of annual chrysanthemum. The treatments constituted of two level of pinching i.e. no pinching and pinching and each at three levels i.e. GA3 (100 ppm, 200 ppm and 300 ppm) and SA (100 ppm, 150 ppm and 200 ppm) along with control (distilled water). Significantly maximum no. of primary branches/plant, stem diameter, fresh weight of leaf, no. of seeds/peduncle, weight of seeds/peduncle and seed yield/plant was recorded with pinching. However, early seed ripening was noted with no pinching treatment. GA3 at 100 ppm exhibited maximum no. of primary branches/plant. Significantly maximum leaf area index was observed with GA3 300 ppm treatment. Among various doses of salicylic acid, SA 100 ppm recorded maximum plant spread, no. of seeds/peduncle, weight of seeds/peduncle seed yield/plant and test weight of seed. Maximum fresh weight of leaf was observed with SA 150 ppm. However, maximum stem diameter was registered with SA 200 ppm. Interaction of pinching with GA3 and SA gave significant effect on all growth and seed parameters except no. of primary branches/plant, stem diameter and fresh weight of leaf.