The field experiment was conducted in the rabi season of 2020-21 at Floriculture Farm, College of Horticulture, Dapoli, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, a hot and humid region with a lateritic soil type. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design comprising four replications and six different mulching treatments: Control (No mulch), Paddy straw, dry grass, glyricidia leaves, black polyethylene mulch, and silver polyethylene mulch.
Significantly early initiation of flowering (34.60DAT) was observed in treatment T5 (Black polythene mulch). The delayed initiation of a flower bud (46.53DAT) was observed in treatmentT1 (Control). The significantly lowest number of days required for 50% flowering (49.03 days) and the longest duration of flowering (78.49 days) were also taken in treatment T5 (Black polythene mulch).
Flowers in the T5 (Black polythene mulch) treatment had the significantly highest flower diameter (7.40 cm), highest fresh weight (14.43 g/flower), and dry flower weight (2.93 g/flower).
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Malshe, Kiran & Salvi, Bharat & Khandekar, R.G.. (2021). Effect of different mulches on flowering and flower characters in marigold under Konkan Agroclimatic conditions. 479-481.