Biomass and essential oil of Tagetes minuta influenced by pinching and harvesting stage under high precipitation conditions in the western Himalayas

ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of pinching and harvesting stages on duration of phenophases, aerial biomass partitioning, and essential oil productivity. It comprised of two pinching (pinching and without pinching) and four harvesting stages (bud initiation, flower initiation, 50% flowering and 100% flowering). All the phenological stages were delayed by pinching and the crop took 93–103 days, respectively, under control and pinching from transplanting to 100% flowering. Biomass accumulation in to leaf, flower and stem was enhanced by pinching. Pinching and 100% flowering stage recorded significantly higher fresh biomass and essential oil content than other treatments. Delay in harvesting stage from bud initiation to 100% flowering also caused variation in oil content and composition. Major constituents of essential oil (Z)-β-ocimene and (E)-ocimenone increases, while dihydrotagetone and (E)-tagetone decreases with delay in harvesting from bud initiation to 100% flowering stage.

KEYWORDS:

• Pinching
• harvesting stages
• essential oil
• dihydrotagetone
• (Z)-β-ocimene

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Director, CSIR-IHBT, Palampur for providing necessary facilities during the course of study. The authors also thank Mr. Kuldip Singh, Mr. Ramdeen Prasad, and Mr. Shiv Kumar for providing technical support. Financial grant received from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi is also acknowledged. This is IHBT publication number 4156.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi [grant number IHBT 4156].