Paper Details

Effect of sowing dates on enhancing the flowering time in Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)

Noor Ul Amin, Muhammad Sajid, Habib Ahmad, Muhammad Sajid

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.12692/ijb/5.12.152-159

Int. J. Biosci. 5(12), 152-159. December, 2014. (PDF)

Abstract:

The experiment was conducted at Hazara Agriculture Research Station Abbottabad Pakistan during 2010-11 in order to evaluate the impact of various sowing dates on plant height, number of branches, leaves and suckers per plant, leaf area, number days to flowering, number of flowers per plant, flowering period, flower size and fresh weight.  The seeds of chrysanthemum var. Fanfare mix were sown on five different dates (20th February, 7th March, 22nd March, 6th April and 21st April) in trays. After a month of each sowing, plants were transplanted individually to 28 cm pots. The sowing dates significantly affected most of the studied variables. Late sowing (21stand 6th April) produced significant results with leaf area (110.0, 106.1 cm2), days to flowering (160, 181 days) and flower size (5.9 cm) respectively as compared to the rest of sowing dates. On the other hand the plants raised from the seeds sown on 21st and 6th April produced less number of branches per plant (5.2, 5.0), leaves (46, 45), suckers (4.1, 5.2), flowers (12, 14), and had short flowering period (35, 37days) respectively.  The early sowing (20th February) performed well with higher number of branches (6.9), produced more number of leaves (74), had maximum flowering period (40 days) as well as maximum number of flowers (24). Sowing on 6th April and 21stApril produced early flowering and enhanced the flowering time. Hence sowing on 6th and 21stApril produced flowers between 27th September and 4th October, which was earlier than the normal time of flowering. It was concluded that late sowing produced early flowers and prolonged the flowering duration in chrysanthemum.