Performance of standard chrysanthemum cultivars (Dendranthema grandiflora Tzvelev.) for flowering parameters under Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

The present investigation was conducted during August to December 2019 in the shade net house of Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, K.N.K. College of Horticulture, Mandsaur, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Gwalior (M.P.).
The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications and eight cultivars namely 'Coffee' (C1), 'Hybrid-1' (C2), 'Hybrid-2' (C3), 'Mountaineer' (C4), 'Star Whiter' (C5), 'Star Yellow' (C6), 'Tata Century' (C7) and 'Thai Chen Queen' (C8). The pots were filled with the medium (Soil: Sand: FYM-1:1:1) @ 5 kg/pot and uniform sized thirty days healthy rooted cuttings with 3-4 fresh leaves were planted in pots and were kept under shade net house. Study revealed that the various cultivars showed significant difference with respect of flowering and flower quality parameters. Among the standard chrysanthemum cultivars studied, the cultivar 'Thai Chen Queen' showed best performance with respect of flower diameter (11.58 cm), longest duration of flowering (36.40 days), earliest 50% flowering (82.00 days) while, 'Hybrid-2' shows the best results with respect of earliest flower bud appearance (52.93 days) and the maximum chlorophyll content in leaves (71.24) was recorded with 'Tata Century'. While, the minimum chlorophyll content in leaves (43.35), delayed flower bud appearance (70.47 days) and 50% flowering (102.33 days) was recorded with cultivar 'Coffee'.