Ebtisam Esmaael Ahmade^*(1)

(1). Horticulture and Land Scape Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Mosul University, Mosul, Iraq.

(*Corresponding author: Dr. Ebtisam Asmaael Ahmade. E-Mail: ebtisamesmaael@gmail.com).

Received: 30/11/2018                                Accepted: 08/01/2019

Abstract

This experiment was conducted in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape design, College of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Mosul, during the period from October 2017 to May 2018, on the garland chrysanthemum plants Chrysanthemum coronarium L., to produce as flowering pot plants, by studying effect of two factors, first: pinching once or twice as well as non-pinching, and the second: paclobutrazol at concentrations: 0, 10 and 20 mg.l^-1 sprayed twice until wet. Factorial experiment in Randomized Complete Block Design was used in this study, with three replicate and 12 plants for treatment. The results indicated that twice pinching gave a significant reduction in the plant height, the inflorescence diameter, the plant dry weight and the seeds weight (100 seeds). But increased the branches number, chlorophyll intensity in the leaf, the period from planting to inflorescence bud formation, the period to opening 50% of inflorescences, and the total number of inflorescences, the plant aesthetic value (degree) and the plant aesthetic period. On other hand, spraying plants with paclobutrazol at 20 mg l^-1 caused a significant decreased in plant height and the plant dry weight, but increased chlorophyll intensity in the leaf, the plant aesthetic value, and the plant aesthetic period. In general, plants which twice pinching and sprayed with paclobutrazol at a concentration 20 mg.l^-1 significantly reduced the plant height 21.76 cm, the inflorescence diameter 42.03 mm, the plant dry weight 48.73 gm and the seeds weight, but increased the branches number 30.77 branches.plant^-1 chlorophyll intensity in the leaf 30.96 SPAD, the period from planting to inflorescence bud formation 111.00 day, the period to opening 50% of inflorescences 27 march, the total number of inflorescences 85.16 inflo.plant^-1, the plant aesthetic value 8.66 degree, and the plant aesthetic period.

Key Words: Garland chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum coronarium, Paclobutrazol, Pinching, Pot Plant.

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