VOL. 78, NOS. 1–2 71

Sci. & Cult. 78 (1–2) 71-77 (2012)

Year Round Cultivation of GardenChrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum

morifolium Ramat.) throughPhotoperiodic Response

ABSTRACT : Chrysanthemum is a short day leadingcommercial flower. It develops flower buds when days areless than 12 hours long and the blooming period is shortunder traditional cultural method. For commercial floricultureprogrammed blooming is necessary for year round availabilityof flowers. Extensive work has been done to categorize theleading varieties into their response group and theirsensitivity to photoperiodism for year round blooming. Resultshave tremendous commercial importance.

Key words: Chrysanthemum, commercial cultivation, year round,photoperiod

Chrysanthemum(Fam. Compositae) is one of the mostbeautiful leading commercial flower crop important

as cut flower for interior decoration and as well as potplant in the world. It ranks second in the international cutflower trade. Today the chrysanthemum has earnedtremendous popularity in floriculture industry due to widerage of flower colour and form and their excellent keepingquality. Chrysanthemums are classic short-day plants withblooming controlled by the relative length of the day andnight. Since Chrysanthemums are considered a short day(SD) plant, the plants develop vegetation under long daysand flowers under short days. Most cultivars begin todevelop flower buds when days are less than 12 hours long.When the night gets longer than nine hours,chrysanthemums begin to set flower buds. The bloomingperiod under traditional culture is short, few weeks ormonth, depending on the geographical location of growingarea. The result is low return per unit area. Programmedblooming is necessary for year round availability of flowersfor commercial floriculture. The discovery of phenomenonof photoperiodism have helped in the successful productionof chrysanthemum flower throughout the year in manycountries1,2,3,4,5,6. Since then a large number of experimentswere performed on chrysanthemum varieties throughout theworld to find out their response to photoperiod and it wasfound that plants of most autumn and winter bloomingchrysanthemum varieties remain vegetative till the dailyperiod of continuous darkness is less than 9½ hours7,8 .The same plants initiate and develop flower buds as soonas the daily length of dark period starts increasing beyond

9½ hours per day by covering the whole plant with blackpolythene sheet during night9,10 . This finding implied thatflowering in chrysanthemum varieties can be easilyprevented or induced by manipulating the length ofcontinuous dark period every day by use of artificiallighting and shading11,12 .

Voluminous work have been done on chrysanthemumat National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow andmany other research institutions and Universities in Indiaand the main topic of research were enrichment ofgermplasm and their utilization in breeding programme, pre–and post-harvest physiology, disease control, developmentof new and novel varieties through hybridization, selectionand gamma ray induced mutation13,14,15 . In spite of muchcommercial demand and availability of huge promisingvarieties, no extensive work has been done for year roundprogrammed blooming of chrysanthemum in India forcommercial purpose, except few16,12,17,18,19 . Concentratedefforts were made by the authors to classify the leadingchrysanthemum varieties into their response group and theirsensitivity to photoperiodism for year round programmedblooming. Attempts have also been made to highlight theimportance of some basic requirements for successfulgrowing of chrysanthemum under green house condition.This is perhaps the first extensive report on commercialapplication of year round chrysanthemum blooming throughphotoperiod control.

Photo-induction and Response Group : Eachchrysanthemum variety has its specific photo inductionrequirement i.e. the number of lights and continuous longdark periods (short days) required by its plant for cominginto bloom after it has attained maturity. A combination ofday and night is termed as one photoperiod. Varietiesrequire differential photoperiod ranging from 8 to 15 weeksfor coming into bloom. A variety requiring 8 weeks forphoto induction period is said to belong to 8 weeksresponse group. The term ‘response group’ refers to thenumber of weeks to flowering from the commencement ofshort days in a night temperature of 15.6o C in lightconditions near to those prevailing for natural flowering(October and November ). The varieties have been thusclassified into eight groups i.e. 8,9,10,11,12,13,14, and15 weeks response group depending on their respectivephoto induction requirement20,21 . The response groupclassification will help the correct choice of varieties forround the year flowering22 .

72 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2012

TABLE 1. Classification of small flowered Chrysanthemum varieties accordingto response Group

Cultivars Response Flowering Colour Bloom TypeGroup Season

Akita 8 weeks Oct.- Nov. White Anemone

Mother Teresa 8-9 weeks Nov. White Anemone

Sharad Mala 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. White Double Korean

Sharad Har 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. Yellow D. Korean

Arun Singar 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. Terracotta D. Korean

Sharad Singar 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. Yellow D. Korean

Peet Singar 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. Yellow D. Korean

Haldi Ghati 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. Yellow D. Korean

Vijai 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. Yellow D. Korean

Ajai 8-9 weeks Oct.- Nov. Pink Decorative

Shanti 9-10 weeks Oct.- Nov. White Decorative

Ping Pong 9-10 weeks Nov. – Dec. White Pompon

Dolly White 9-10 weeks Nov. – Dec. White Pompon

Appu 9-10 weeks Nov. – Dec. Pink Pompon

Hemant Singar 9-10 weeks Nov. – Dec. Mauve D. Korean

Nagpur Dwarf 9-10 weeks Nov.– Dec. Red D.Korean

Red Seedling 9-10 weeks Nov.– Dec. Red D.Korean

NBRI Kusum 9-10 weeks Nov.– Dec. Yellow D.Korean

Lalpari 9-10 weeks Nov.– Dec. Red D.Korean

White Prolific 9-10 weeks Nov.– Dec. Yellow D. Korean

Prof. Harris 10-11 weeks December Yellow D. Korean

Flirt 10-11 weeks December Red D. Korean

Shyamal 10-11 weeks December Mauve Decorative

Jayanti 10-11 weeks December Yellow Pompon

Jubilee 10-11 weeks December Terracota Pompon

Aparajita 10-11 weeks December Yellow Pincushion

Birbal Sahini 10-11 weeks December White Pompon

Apsara 10-11 weeks December White Pompon

Nanako 10-11 weeks December Yellow Pompon

Kundan 10-11 weeks December Yellow Pompon

NBRI Little Darling 10-11 weeks December Yellow Pompon

Himaun 10-11 weeks December White Korean

Yellow baby 10-11 weeks December Yellow Button

Kelvin Tatta 11-12 weeks December Pink with red center Pompon

Kelvin Victory 11-12 weeks December Yellow with red center Pompon

Lilith 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. White D. Korean

Sunayana 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Mauve

Vasantika 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Yellow Pompon

Suneel 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Mauve Decorative

Gouri 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. White Pompon

Duja 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Pink Decorative

Gulal 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Bronze Decorative

Jaya 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Red Decorative

Nilima 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Purple D.Korean

Khumani 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Apricot D.Korean

Basant Bahar 13-14 weeks Jan.-Feb. Yellow D.Korean

Maghi Pink 13-14 weeks Jan.-Feb. Pink Pompon

Maghi Yellow 13-14 weeks Jan.-Feb. Yellow Pompon

Red spoon 14-15 weeks Feb.-March Red D.Korean

Programmed Blooming :Because of the high value offloricultural crops and the precisemanipulations required toproduce flowers for specificmarkets and holidays productionsystems for floricultural crops areperhaps the most advanced of allcultural systems used to producefield or horticultural crops. Onthe basis of above findings itbecame a matter ofmathematical calculation to planblooming of a particular varietyon desire date. This fact is nowbeing commercially exploited inmany countries by timing thecrop at a period when it is mostprofitable. Installation forartificial lighting and/ or shadingthe plants are now common incommercial floriculture.

Extensive efforts weremade by the authors first todetermine the response group ofpromising varieties under naturalconditions through repeatexperiments. Determination ofresponse group is essentialbecause artificial lighting andblackout dates mainly dependson the response group of thevarieties chosen. Both large(standard) and small floweredvarieties were categorizedaccording to their response group(Tables 1 and 2). Then thesevarieties were experimentedunder artificial photoperiodchanging system by increasing ordecreasing day length.

A succession ofchrysanthemum of some choicestvarieties are obtained byplanting, pinching, lighting andshading the plants according toa definite plan23 . For eg.variety ‘Birbal Sahani’ belongs to9 week response group andrequires 2 months of vegetative

VOL. 78, NOS. 1–2 73

growth period for maturity when its pants becomeresponsive to day length. Suppose we want to obtain itsbloom on 25th November, 2nd December and 9th December,the plan would be as given below24.

Desired Date of Date of lighting Date ofblooming planting startingDate shading

From To

25th November 24th July 24th Aug. 22nd Sept. 23rd Sept.

2nd December 31st July 31st Aug. 29th Sept. 30th Sept.

9th December 7th Aug. 06th Sept. 06th Oct. 07th Oct.

Control of Environment : Artificial light (LongDays) : Supplementary light is provided tochrysanthemum for delaying the blooming in year roundcut flower production. For giving artificial lighting, acombination of fluorescent light and incandescent bulb wasused. The intensity of artificial light was about 150 Lux.This was achieved by suspending overhead 40 Watt tubesand 40 Watt bulbs hung about 2 meters above the tip ofplants. 50 pots of chrysanthemum in vegetative stagewere kept and the lights were kept ON for four hours from10 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night so that long continuous darkperiod is interrupted and divided into two portions non ofwhich is long enough (9½ hours) to initiate flower buds.

TABLE 2. Classification of large flowered chrysanthemum varieties accordingto response group

Cultivars Response Flowering Colour Bloom TypeGroup Season

Tai-hoto-zan 8-9 weeks Early Nov Mauve Incurved

The Dragon 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Red with Majenta Reflexed

Evening Star 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Sulphur yellow Reflexed

President Vigour 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Deep purple Reflexed

Snow Don 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. White Incurved

S.S.Arnold 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. White Incurved

Valiant 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Light Yellow Spider

Casa Grande 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Slivery White Irregular incurved

Kenroku Kangiku 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Mauve Incurved

R Venkatraman 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Yellow Incurved

Kokka Yamata 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Deep Yellow Incurved

Shiela Morghan 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Yellow Incurving

Changes Khan 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Bronze Irregular Incurred

Queen of Tamialuk 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Yellow Irregular Incurved

Snow Ball 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. White Incurved

Purnima 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. White Ball Decorative

Sonar Bangla 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Sulphur Yellow Incurved

Mrs. Rogar Thomson 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Yellow Incurved

Shankar Dayal Sharma 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. White Incurved

Beauty 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. White Incurving

Super Giant 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Sulphur Yellow Incurved

Ksturba Gandhi 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. White Tubular Reflexed

Mahatma Gandhi 9-10 weeks Nov. Dec. Oxhid purple Tubular Reflexed

R M Quittemton 10-11 weeks December Cardimal Red Reflexed

Mountaineer 10-11 weeks December Sulphur Yellow Incurved

Bhai Bhai 10-11 weeks December Orange Reflexed

Oto –me-Zakura 10-11 weeks December Mauve Decorative

Thichina Queen 10-11 weeks December Terra cota Incurved

John Reid 10-11 weeks December Bright Red Intermediate

Belur Math 10-11 weeks December Purple Incurved

The results of the experiment aregiven in tables 3 & 4. The timingof lighting was controlled withthe help of automatic electric‘Timer Switch’. In case of fieldconditions, each bed is providedwith overhead cables to facilitateillumination; at a time only one-third of the planted area isilluminated. According to anestimate, 730 meters of cablewith 400 lamps of 100 watt each,requiring a load of 25 KW isadequate to supplement light foran area of 0.4 hectare 8,16,24,17.Instead of incandescent lamps,fluorescent tubes have beenfound to be more effective25,26.For large areas high pressuremercury fluorescent lamps (typeMBFR/U) are also equallyeffective. But tubes andfluorescent lamps together arenot suitable for cyclic lighting.Low pressure sodium lamps havean efficiency of 32 per centcompared to 7 per cent fromincandescent lamp27. Aminimum of 10ft candle issupplied using 60 Watt lamps, 4feet apart and 2 feet above theplants.

Artificial Shading (ShortDays) : Short Day (SD)treatment consisted of completeshading of potted plants for 14hours from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m.every day. Once started the SD

74 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2012

treatment continued till the floralbuds of treated plant startedshowing colour. Shading wasachieved with the help of a blackalkathene (150 gauge) curtainsliding on two parallel wiresrunning overhead. A structure hasto be erected so that the shadingmaterial is conveniently slideover the plants keeping enoughroom all around. The researchrelating to the short day plantingsystem are given in Table 5. Fora year round programme in thearea of 0.4 hectare approximately1280 m long and 4.3 m widesheet would be required to cover1.5 m wide beds taking two-thirds of planted area undershade at a green period. Morenumber of lateral branches,flower bud differentiation andflowering in spray mumchrysanthemum were obtainedby providing shading with daylength of 11 or 12 hours28. Changand Yih29 also studied the effectof shade on growth and cut

Distinction 10-11 weeks December Fire Red Reflexed

Mand Jefferies 10-11 weeks December White Reflexed

White Cloud 10-11 weeks December White Incurving

Fish Tail 10-11 weeks December Purple Reflexed

Flirtation 10-11 weeks December Mauve Spider

Kunchit 10-11 weeks December Purple Incurved

Guesoman Red 10-11 weeks December Red Incurved

Ajina Purple 10-11 weeks December Orchid purple Incurved

Mary Johan 11-12 weeks Late Dec.-Jan. Aureolin Spoon

Bob Pulling 11-12 weeks Late Dec.-Jan. Sulphur Yellow Irregular

General Hutton 11-12 weeks Late Dec.-Jan. Canary Yellow Reflexed

Pink Casleet 11-12 weeks Late Dec.-Jan. Dawn Pink Flat Spoon

Mrs C Toffy 11-12 weeks Late Dec.-Jan. White Reflexed

Mrs. S Smith 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. White Incurving

Paul 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Mandarin Red Reflexed

W-I (Tubular) 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. White Tabular Incurved

Dikamitys 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Teracota Incurved

Woolman century 12-11 weeks Dec.-Jan. White Irregular Incurve

Thiokinga 10-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Sulphur yellow Incurved

Satish Modi 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Light Red Incurved

Hommand 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Purple Semi Double

Phillips 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Purple Reflexed

Kings Ford Smith 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Purple Reflexed

Red Quills 12-13 weeks Dec.-Jan. Brick Red Quilled

TABLE 2. Contd.....

TABLE 3. Response of large flowered chrysanthemum to long-day (LD) treatments

Cultivar Control Treated

Showing Optimum Showing Optimum Blooming Photo Responsecolour Blooming colour Blooming delayed (days) induction (days)

S S Arnold 11 Nov. 5 Dec. 14 Nov. 12 Dec. 07 60 9

Valiant 14 Nov. 10 Dec. 21 Nov. 17 Dec. 07 65 9

Casa Grande 12 Nov. 10 Dec. 22 Nov. 19 Dec. 09 67 9-10

Kenroku Kangiku 5 Nov. 29 Nov. 24 Nov. 17 Dec. 18 65 9

Oto-Me-Zakura 10 Nov. 5 Dec. 18 Nov. 14 Dec. 09 62 9

R.Venkatraman 3 Nov. 28 Nov. 16 Nov. 13 Dec. 15 61 9

Kokka Yamata 31 Oct. 30 Nov. 18 Nov. 17 Dec. 17 65 9

Shiela Morghan 7 Nov. 10 Dec. 14 Nov. 17 Dec. 07 65 9

Changes Khan 10 Nov. 10 Dec. 18 Nov. 16 Dec. 06 64 9

R M Quittention 10 Nov. 6 Dec. 24 Nov. 22 Dec. 16 70 10

Guesman Red 13 Nov. 10 Dec. 20 Nov. 18 Dec. 08 66 9-10

Snow Ball 10 Nov. 3 Dec. 24 Nov. 17 Dec. 14 65 9

Tai-hoto-Zan 6 Nov. 30 Nov. 17 Nov. 9 Dec. 10 57 8

Ajina Purple 15 Nov. 7 Dec. 26 Nov. 21 Dec. 14 69 10

Purnima 10 Nov. 5 Dec. 22 Nov. 15 Dec. 10 63 9

VOL. 78, NOS. 1–2 75

flowers quality of chrysanthemum plants grew faster undershade and recorded increased plant height, leaf area, flowersize and chlorophyll content in leaf as compared to theopen field culture.

Temperature : Heating : Green house located intemperate regions need some arrangement of heating,particularly during night to maintain proper temperature(at least 15.6oC). The heating consisted of laying pipesthrough which hot water or steam is passed. Stem isproduced in boilers located at lower level passed throughthe pipes at about 5 lb/inch2 in low pressure system andat 90 lb/inch2 in high pressure system . The pipes arepitched slightly up so that condensed water return to theboiler by gravity. Hot water system also needs boilerusually kept at high levels. The length of the pipe line isdetermined by calculating the heat loss from the house. Ifa greenhouse of 7.5 x 3.0 m is to be heated with hot waterup to 15.6oC it requires 540 linear metre of 5 cm pipe inhot water system30 .

Cooling : Greenhouse located in warmer regions,cooling is necessary specially during day time. The mistand fan and pad cooling system are usually recommended.For mist cooling, nozzles are spaced suitably throughoutthe greenhouse and water pressure (500 lb/inch2 provided

for misting to quickly evaporate without falling on theleaves. With fan and pad system, exhaust fans are placedon one of the greenhouse walls and porous wooden fiberpads installed on the opposite wall. Water is allowed totrickle over the pad with the help of a pump. As the exhaustfans operate air is sucked through the moist pads bringingdown the temperature of the greenhouse by evaporativecooling. During night exhaust fans are used and the padsare kept dry. Large fans usually spaced at 3.75 m apartare used for this purpose; with of pad is kept about 60 cmif installed throughout the length of greenhouse facing thefans.

Humidity : The optimum relative humidity is raisedby spraying water and be lowered by providing ventilationand heating. Shoot elongation and plant height was foundto be decreased at 60% RH as compared to 90% RH.Increased humidity reduced leaf area and delayed inflowering. Best shoot length and total leaf area per plantwas found to be increased at high level (95%) of RH inplants grown hydroponically. Plants grown at such highRH, required less irrigation water due to reduced wateruptake.

Selection of Cultivars : The right choice of cultivarsis of paramount importance for success in chrysanthemum

TABLE 4. Response of small flowered chrysanthemum to long-day (LD) treatments.

Cultivar Control Treated

Showing Optimum Showing Optimum Blooming Photo Responsecolour Blooming colour Blooming delayed (days) induction (days)

Ping Pong 1 Nov. 28 Nov. 20 Nov. 15 Dec. 17 63 9

Basant Bahar 21 Nov. 10 Dec. 18 Dec. 5 Jan. 26 84 12

Dolly White 27 Oct. 22 Nov. 17 Nov. 12 Dec. 20 60 8-9

Appu 10 Nov. 29 Nov. 26 Nov. 14 Dec. 15 62 9

Akita 10 Nov. 22 Nov. 24 Nov. 8 Dec. 16 56 8

Sharad Mala 24 Nov. 14 Nov. 20 Nov. 9 Dec. 25 57 8

Sharad Har 26 Oct. 14 Nov. 20 Nov. 9 Dec. 25 57 8

Arun Singar 30 Oct. 22 Nov. 20 Nov. 12 Dec. 20 60 8-9

Sharad Singar 23 Oct. 14 Nov. 18 Nov. 8 Dec. 24 56 8

Hemant Singar 12 Nov. 23 Nov. 4 Dec. 15 Dec. 22 63 9

Peet Singar 12 Nov. 26 Nov. 29 Nov. 12 Dec. 16 60 8-9

Nagpur Dwarf 14 Nov. 28 Nov. 1 Dec. 15 Dec. 17 63 9

Red Seedling 11 Nov. 24 Nov. 2 Dec. 14 Dec. 20 62 9

Haldi Ghati 26 Oct. 13 Nov. 20 Nov. 8 Dec. 25 56 8

Vijai 26 Oct. 14 Nov. 20 Nov. 10 Dec. 26 58 8

NBRI Kusum 26 Oct. 9 Nov. 3 Dec. 15 Dec. 37 63 9

NBRI Little Darling 26 Nov. 9 Dec. 11 Dec. 28 Dec. 22 76 11

76 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2012

TABLE 5. Effect of artificial short days treatment on important small and large flowered chrysanthemum

Cultivars Colour of Size of Days from Date of Date of Date of Date of Natural BloomingFlowers Flower (cm) Planting to Bud Colour First optimum Blooming Hastened

Flowering Initiation Show Bloom Blooming Period (Days)

NBRI Little Darling Terracotta 2.90 145.0 20.10.04 23.11.04 29.11.04 03.12.04 09.12.04 07

Flirt Red 6.45 142.0 28.10.04 19.11.04 28.11.4 30.12.4 08.12.04 09

Shyamal Mauve 6.50 145.0 26.10.04 19.11.04 27.11.4 03.12.4 16.12.04 14

Maghi Yellow 3.10 172.0 18.11.04 12.12.04 28.12.4 30.12.04 25.1.05 27

Jayanti Yellow 3.55 131.0 12.10.04 07.11.04 15.11.4 19.11.4 07.12.04 19

Jubilee Terracotta 5.55 136.0 10.10.04 08.11.04 18.11.4 24.11.4 04.12.04 11

Shanti White 3.05 131.0 10.10.04 06.11.04 14.11.4 19.11.4 29.11.04 11

Suneel Purple 5.95 161.0 15.11.04 06.12.04 13.12.4 19.12.4 2.1.05 15

White Prolific White 5.45 130.0 10.10.04 06.11.04 13.11.4 18.11.4 24.11.04 07

Thiching Queen Apricot 7.50 151.0 23.10.04 16.11.04 28.11.4 09.12.4 13.12.04 04

Vasabntika Yellow 3.45 161.0 25.10.04 28.11.04 12.12.4 19.12.4 02.1.05 15

Gouri White 3.40 172.0 11.11.04 11.12.04 21.12.4 30.12.4 03.1.05 05

Aparajita Yellow 2.50 145.0 01.10.04 25.10.04 05.11.4 11.11.4 20.11.04 10

Prof. Harris Yellow 3.22 125.0 05.10.04 02.11.04 15.11.4 21.11.4 27.11.04 07

Lilith White 5.00 133.0 24.10.03 26.11.03 06.12.03 13.12.03 19.12.03 07

Apsara Pinkish White 3.50 76.0 13.10.04 15.11.04 30.11.4 06.12.4 10.12.04 05

Nanako Yellow 3.00 92.0 10.10.04 06.11.04 16.11.4 26.11.04 28.11.04 03

Ajai Pink 3.05 110.0 14.9.03 2.10.03 15.10.03 26.10.03 9.11.03 15

Sharad Mala White 3.65 130.0 05.10.03 28.10.03 07.11.03 15.11.03 18.11.03 04

Sharad Har Yellow 3.50 131.0 04.10.03 26.10.03 08.11.03 14.11.03 17.11.03 04

Lal Pari Red 4.50 147.5 14.10.03 15.11.03 21.11.03 25.11.03 27.11.03 03

Shanti White 2.52 135.0 08.10.03 08.11.03 16.11.03 20.11.03 26.11.03 07

Kundan Yellow 5.03 134.0 02.10.03 04.11.03 12.11.03 19.11.03 07.12.03 19

Pink Gin Pink 5.40 134.50 05.10.03 28.10.03 13.11.03 20.11.03 22.11.03 03

Maghi White 3.60 182.30 07.11.03 16.12.03 30.12.03 08.1.04 23.1.04 16

Purnima White 6.05 180.50 05.10.03 09.11.03 19.11.03 25.11.03 8.12.03 14

Oto-Me-Zakura Pink 5.00 142.50 05.10.03 05.11.03 18.11.03 27.11.03 04.12.03 08

Vijay Yellow 3.70 120.50 11.11.03 23.10.03 30.10.03 05.11.03 12.11.03 08

Dolly White White 2.90 139.50 10.10.03 12.11.03 18.11.03 24.11.03 29.11.03 06

Sunayana Mauve 4.60 162.0 28.10.03 01.12.03 11.12.03 17.12.03 21.12.03 05

production. For green house cultivation 8- to 9-weekresponse groups were suitable for growing in high lightintensity areas or season, while 12 to 14 weeks typeswere chosen for those areas or season which received lowlight radiation.

Conclusion : It is very clear that both early anddelayed blooming may be possible in chrysanthemum bycreating artificial short day and long day. Varieties suitablefor controlled growing have been classified in the present

experiment. By manipulating the planting date and thelight inside the greenhouse, the grower can coordinate theresponse of several varieties as per specific flowering datesand marketing requirements. Flowering of Chrysanthemumsare controlled primarily by regulating the length of days.Most commercial varieties achieve full response time in 7to 10 weeks. The success of year-round blooming has beenbased on sound business thinking. With planned schedulingnow salable chrysanthemum flowers can be produced every

VOL. 78, NOS. 1–2 77

day of the year. For commercial exploitation whenchrysanthemum (particular variety) is aimed to bloomduring a precise date for at one particular market thefollowing procedure is followed : (a) the date on whichthe flowers are required is recorded. (b) the time requiredfor short day treatment depends on the response group towhich the variety belongs, and it will vary from 8 to 15weeks. This time is count back from the date of desiredblooming and the date thus obtained represents the dayfrom which short day (shading) treatment should start and(c) appropriate long day treatment (number of days) isgiven from the date of planting to the date ofcommencement of short-day treatment. The starting dateof long day treatment indicates the date of planting. Thisdate is calculated by substracting ‘response group’ weeks(days) from weeks (days) to crop. This date varies fromcountry to country, cultivar to cultivar and season ofprogramming.

Acknowledgement

Thanks are due to The Director, National BotanicalResearch Institute, Lucknow for providing facilities. Author(S K Datta) thankfully acknowledge Council of Scientificand Industrial Research, New Delhi for providing EmeritusScientist Fellowship. Thanks are due to Director, BoseInstitute, Kolkata for providing present workingfacilities. ❐

S. K. DATTA*AND V. N. GUPTA1

CSIR Emeritus Scientist, Madhyamgram Experimental Farm,Bose Institute, Madhyamgram, Jessore Road,24-Parganas (N), Kolkata 700 129, India

*Corresponding author: subodhskdatta@rediffmail.com

1 National Botanical Research Institute,Lucknow – 226001, India

Received : 25 October, 2010

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