Evaluation of different cultivars of chrysanthemum

Journal of Hill Agriculture 6(2): 144-146, July – December, 2015 DOI 10.5958/2230-7338.2015.00029.4

RESEARCH PAPER

Evaluation of different cultivars of chrysanthemum suitable for low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh RESHMA NEGI ● KUMUD JARIAL ● SUNIL KUMAR ● SR DHIMAN

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Received: June 16, 2015; Revised: August 18, 2015, Accepted: August 20, 2015

ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted under low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh to evaluate 12 cultivars of Chrysanthemum including five standard types viz., Fiji Yellow, Purnima, Tata Centuary, Thaiching Queen, White Star and seven spray type namely, Ajay Baggi, Discovery, Punjab Anuradha, Surf, Nanako and White Bouquet. Among the standard type cultivars, earlier bloom (129 days) was observed in cultivar Purnima while, cv. White star took the longest period (136.66 days) to bloom. Plant height and duration of flowering were also recorded to be maximum in cv. Purnima. However, number of stems per plant and number of flowers per plant varied from 4 to 5 among all the standard type cultivars. The flower diameter was maximum in cv. Purnima (10.66 cm). Among spray type cultivars, cv. Baggi proved to be the best performer under sub tropical conditions of the state in terms of time to bloom (125 days), plant height (75.66 cm) and flower diameter (5 cm) while, duration of flowering (36.33 days) was recorded to be maximum in cv. Nanako. Number of stems per plant varied between 7 to 12 while, number of flowers per plant ranged from 19 to 55 among different spray type cultivars. In all, cv. Purnima among standard type and cv. Baggi among spray type proved to be the most suitable for cultivation under low hill zone of the state. Negi Reshma1 ● Jarial Kumud1 ● Kumar Sunil1 ● Dhiman SR 2 1

College of Horticulture and Forestry, Neri, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh – 177 001, India 2 Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh – 173 230, India

( )

Reshma Negi E mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

KEYWORDS Chrysanthemum, cultivars, sub tropical zone, crop production, Himachal Pradesh INTRODUCTION Chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflorum) belonging to family Asteraceae is one of the leading commercial flower, important as a cut flower as well as pot plant. It ranks second after rose in world cut flower trade and fifth as pot plant (Anonymous 2000). The major use of small flowered chrysanthemum is for making garlands, venis (plaits), in religious offerings however, cut blooms are also used in cemeteries in Japan (Matsuo 1990). Nevertheless, modern chrysanthemum is now being cherished as a long stem cut flower also. Chrysanthemum is also known as queen of East. Chrysanthemum owes its popularity due to the range of form and color of its flowers, their excellent keeping quality and availability throughout the year as a result of intensive studies by scientists and growers. It is a short day plant and cannot normally form flower buds when the day length exceeds 14.5 h or developed them when it exceeds 13.5 h (Machin and Scopes 1978). It is traditionally regarded as an much demanded autumn flower but people in low hills area of Himachal Pradesh are less aware of its cultivation. Since it is one of the leading cut flowers and can fetch good price to farmers of this area, therefore, growing chrysanthemum on scientific footing is of immense need for getting the quality blooms with exportable standards. The present study was undertaken to find out suitable cultivar for low hills for better growth, yield and quality production so that farmers can get better economic returns. MATERIALS AND METHODS An experiment was conducted to evaluate 12 different cultivars of chrysanthemum including five




Journal of Hill Agriculture (Volume 6, No. 2 July – December 2015) standards and seven spray type cultivars under low hill conditions of the state at experimental farm, of Dr YS Parmar University Regional Horticultural and Forestry Research Station, Bhota (Hamirpur) during the cropping seasons of 2013 and 2014. The standard cultivars under investigation included cvs. Fiji Yellow, Purnima, Tata Centuary, Thaiching Queen and White Star while, spray cultivars included cvs. Namely, Ajay, Baggi, Discovery, Punjab Anuradha, Surf, Nanako and White Bouquet. The crop was grown in the field under natural environmental conditions with average temperature of 28-35 °C, relative humidity of 60-75 % and average rain fall of 200 mm. The rooted cuttings of chrysanthemum were planted at a distance of 30x30 cm for standard and 40x40 cm for spray cultivars were followed. 5 kgm-2 well rotten FYM and 30 gm-2 each of N,P2O5 and K2O as basal dose were applied for improved growth and flowering of chrysanthemum. However, ½ dose of N was applied as basal dose and remaining ½ dose after 45 days of planting. Pinching was done after the plants became 15-20 cm tall. In standard type, terminal buds were allowed and axillary buds removed while in spray type, terminal bud was removed and axillary buds allowed blooming. When shoots become 30 cm tall, support was provided. Irrigation, weeding, hoeing and plant protection measures were followed as per requirement of the crop following standard package of practices (DEE 2007). Data were recorded in terms of different plant parameters viz., days taken for flowering, plant height (cm) recorded at the time of flowering and measured from bottom to tip of the plant, number of plants and flowers per plant, flower diameter (cm) and duration of flowering. Five cultivars of standard type and seven cultivars of spray type were planted and 10 plants of each cultivar were replicated thrice. In total, 30 plants were planted in each treatment. The data collected for two years were pooled and analyzed statistically (Gomez and Gomez 1984). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Among the five standard cultivars under study, cv. Purnima performed the best in terms of almost all parameters under investigation (Table1). The number of days taken to first flowering were found to be minimum (129 days) in cultivar Purnima followed by Thaiching Queen (131 days) while, maximum number of days (139.66 days) was taken for flowering by cv. White Star (139.66 days). Maximum number of stems per plant (5.33) was observed in cultivar Fiji Yellow followed by cv. Purnima, whereas, minimum stem number was observed in cultivar White Star (4.0). The maximum plant height (78.00 cm) was observed in Purnima

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followed by Thaiching Queen (71.00 cm). However, minimum plant height (51.00 cm) was observed in cultivar White Star. There was no significant difference in number of flowers per plant which ranged between 4 to 5 in all the cultivars under investigation (Table 1). The largest size of flower (10.66 cm) was observed in cv. Purnima followed by cultivars Thaichng Queen (10.00 cm) while, minimum flower diameter (8.33) was recorded in cultivar White Star. The duration of flowering was recorded to be maximum in cultivar Purnima (36 days) followed by Thaiching Queen (35 days) and minimum duration (27.33 days) was observed in cultivar White Star. Table 1 Evaluation of standard type of chrysanthemum in low hill areas of Himachal Pradesh . Cultivars Days taken to flowering

Fiji Yellow Purnima Tata Centuary Thaiching Queen White Star CD0.05

No of Stems/ plant

Plant No of height flowers/ (cm) Plant

Flower Duration Diameter of (cm) flowering (days)

138.00

5.33

55.00

5.00

9.66

30.00

129.00

5.00

78.00

5.00

10.66

36.00

139.00

4.50

65.00

5.00

10.00

31.00

131.00

5.00

71.00

5.00

10.00

35.00

139.66

4.00

51.00

4.00

8.33

27.33

1.68

0.08

1.02

0.008

0.81

1.42

The number of days taken to first flowering were found to be minimum (125days) in cultivar Baggi followed by Ajay and Surf (128.33 days) and maximum days were taken by cultivar White Bouquet (137) which was at par with cultivar Punjab Anuradha (Table 2). Maximum number of stems per plant (10.66) was recorded to present in cv. Surf which was statistically at par with cv. Punjab Anuradha (10.33) while, minimum stem number was observed in cv. White Bouquet (7.00) non significantly followed by Discovery (7.33). Maximum plant height (75.66 cm) was observed in cultivar Baggi followed by Surf (71.33 cm) however, minimum plant height (36 cm) was observed in Discovery followed by White Bouquet (48.33cm). Maximum number of flowers per plant (55.66) was observed in cv. Baggi which was statistically at par with cultivar Surf (55) whereas, significantly minimum number of flowers per plant (19.66) was observed in cultivar Discovery. Maximum size of flowers (5.00 cm) was recorded in cultivar Baggi which was statistically at par with the diameter in cvs. Discovery (3.16 cm) and Nanako (3.00 cm). Maximum flower duration (36.33 days) was observed in cultivar Nanako followed by cultivar Baggi and Surf (34.33 days). From the result we concluded that the early flowering, plant height, number of flowers

RESHMA NEGI ● KUMUD JARIAL ● SUNIL KUMAR ● SR DHIMAN

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per plant and flower duration cultivar Purnima (standard), Baggi and Nanako (spray) were recommended for general cultivation Table 2 Evaluation of spray type of chrysanthemum in low hill areas of Himachal Pradesh




Cultivars Days taken to flowering

No of Stems/ plant

Plant No of height flowers/ (cm) Plant

Flower Duration Diameter of (cm) flowering (days)

Ajay

128.33

9.40

68.00

51.66

4.16

32.33

Baggi

125.00

12.00

75.66

55.66

5.00

34.33

Discovery 140.00

7.33

36.00

19.66

3.16

28.66

Punjab Anuradha

137.66

10.33

62.66

47.66

4.6

33.00

Surf

128.33

10.66

71.33

55.00

4.33

34.33

Nanako

133.33

8.66

54.33

37.66

3.00

36.33

White Bouquet

137.00

7.00

48.33

26.33

4.33

30.66

0.45

0.94

0.65

1.33

0.84

0.31

CD0.05

The studies on variation in different characters among standard and spray type cultivars of chrysanthemum revealed that there was a positive correlation between plant height and flower diameter which was in conformity with the work done (Qu et al. 2013). Variation among different cultivars for duration of flowering was also recorded (Talukdar et al. 2006). The variation in plant height of different cultivars has also been observed (Punetha et al. 2011). However, there are meager reports in literature regarding the comparative analysis of horticultural traits of various chrysanthemum cultivars, so the results cannot be compared with. CONCLUSION Among the standards cv. Purnima and among sprays cv. Baggi performed the best and are

suitable for cultivation under low hill conditions of the state. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Authors are thankful to the Horticultural Technology Mission, Himachal Pradesh for providing financial assistance to conduct these studies. REFERENCES Anonymous 2000. World news in floriculture. Floriculture International 6:14. DEE 2007. Package of Practices for Floriculture and Landscaping. Directorate of Extension Education, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India 95p. Gomez LA, Gomez AA 1984. Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research. 3rd edn, John Wiley and Sons, Singapore 680p. Machin BJ, Scopes NEA 1978.Chrysanthemum Year Round Growing. Bladford Press, Poole-Dorset, 233p. Matsuo E 1990. Analysis of flower appreciation and its international comparison contribute to progress of flower production and international flower trade. HortScience 25:1468-1471. Punetha Parul, Rao VK, Sharma SK 2011. Evaluation of different chrysanthemum genotypes under mid hill conditions of Garhwal Himalaya. The Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 81(9): 830-833. Qu CM, Zhang JC, Lu XQ, Chan JY, Chen RD 2013.The quantity analysis on phenotypic traits of chrysanthemum germplasm. Acta Horticulturae 977: 205-212. Talukdar MC, Mahanta Sangita, Bhaskarjyotisarma 2006. Evaluation of standard chrysanthemum (Dendrathetma grandiflora Tzvelve.) cultivars under polyhouse cum rain-shelter and open field conditions. Journal of Ornamental Horticulture 9(2): 110-113.