Growth and flowering performance evaluation of thirty two chrysanthemum cultivars

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth and flowering performance of chrysanthemum cultivars. Thirty two chrysanthemum cultivars coded from V1 to V32 were used in the experiment. Plant height, number of branch per plant, leaf area, number of leaf per branch, chlorophyll content, days to flower bud initiation, days to first petal spread, days to final bloom, number of flower bud per plant, number of flower per branch, number of flower per plant, bud diameter at initiation stage, bud diameter at mature stage, flower head diameter, stalk length and flower durability in plant (days to 50% flower senescence) for different cultivars varied significantly. Number of flowers per plant ranged from 4.3 to 194.6, flower head diameters varied from 2.8 to 17.6 cm and stalk lengths were from 4.4 to 20.1 cm. Amongst the chrysanthemum cultivars V15 (BARI chrysanthenum1) was the maximum flower producing cultivar, while V1 produced the largest flowers and flowers from the V21 had the longest shelf-life. These variations might help in classifying chrysanthemum, for pot cultivation and cut flower, based on their flowering quality which will be beneficial for growers.


I. Introduction
Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum sp.) belonging to Asteraceae family is a highly attractive and charming flowering plant, having number of varieties in the world is reported to be above 2000 (Joshi et al., 2010).Chrysanthemums are used either as cut flowers or grown in pots and the success in cultivation of this plant is principally due to the great diversity of cultivars (Barbosa, 2003).Though the flower yield and quality are primarily varietals characters, they are also greatly influenced by climatic factors.A numerous number of chrysanthemum cultivars are found in Bangladesh.BARI has developed only two chrysanthemum cultivars (BARI, 2011) and rest of the cultivars were brought in by commercial growers from different countries without scientific information.The growth and flowering performance of these cultivars have not been evaluated.Most of the growers do not have overall idea about all of these cultivars.Varietal performance evaluation can be helpful for the

III. Results and Discussion
Plant height: Plant height of chrysanthemum exposed statistically significant variation among 32 cultivars at 30, 40 and 50 days after transplanting (DAT) (Figure 01).The range of plant height was from 71.8 cm to 23.7 cm.The tallest plant was found from V13 (71.8 cm) whereas the shortest from V8 (23.7 cm) at 50 DAT of chrysanthemum cultivars (Table 01).Present study referred that V13 (Sunny Yellow) exposed as the tallest plant among the cultivars at mature stage.Kim et al. (2014) found a range of 19.3-64.6 cm plant height in 15 Taxa of Korean chrysanthemum species and Ara et al. (2012Ara et al. ( -2013) ) found a range of 36-70 cm.While Chandragiri et al. (2004) recorded maximum 132.16 cm plant height from Solomon Impala variety of chrysanthemum.Some cultivars of chrysanthemum were vigorous in growth and some were less vigorous, this might be caused by varietal characters responsible by a gene.As a genetically controlled factor, plant height varied among the cultivars of chrysanthemum (Kanamadi and Patil, 1993;Barigidad andPatil, 1992 andBaskaran et al., 2010).Similar variation in plant height among varieties was also observed in marigold (Raghuvanshi et al., 2011) and in rose (Hussain and Khan, 2004).The higher plant height obtained from plants could be attributed to increased photosynthetic capacity of the plants in asters (Vrsek et al., 2006).
Number of branches: 32 cultivars showed statistically significant difference at 30, 40 and 50 DAT (Figure 02) for number of branches per plant.Maximum number of branch was recorded from V6 (19.7/plant) while minimum from V2 (2.5/plant) at 50 DAT of chrysanthemum cultivars (Table 02).V7 cultivar (Yellow Glow) performed best in case number of branches per plant.Chaugule (1985) recorded a maximum 16.56 branches in chrysanthemum.Barigidad and Patil (1992) recorded a range of 2.75 to 18.58 branches in case of chrysanthemum cultivar.Difference in branches among the chrysanthemum cultivars could be due to influence of genetical make up of chrysanthemum cultivars (Hicklenton, 1985;Moe, 1988;Chezhian et al., 1985 andKanamadi andPatil, 1993).Similar variation for number of branches was also observed in China aster (Munikrishnappa et al., 2013).01).The result referred that V11 (Lavender Mum) produced maximum number of leaves per branch (20 cm).Similar result on number of leaves was observed by Barigidad and Patil (1992) in chrysanthemum.Variation in number of leaves was previously reported by Wilfret et al. (1973).This difference for number of leaf per branch among cultivars was due to their genetic composition (Charles, 1995).
Corresponding author email: jamal4@yahoo.com(Jamal Leaf area: Leaf area showed significant variation among chrysanthemum cultivars.Maximum leaf area was found from V1 (52.9 cm 2 ) whereas minimum from V29 (5.9 cm 2 ) which scored lowest after flowering (Table 01).Results showed that V1 (Crimson Tide) provided maximum leaf area.Mitra and Paul (2008) recorded 47.2 cm 2 leaf areas in un-pinched single stem cultivar of chrysanthemum.
Greater leaf area may lead to more dry matter accumulation, which resulted in the accumulation of maximum photosynthates that contributed to produce bigger sized flower or more number of flowers.Similar variation in leaf area among cultivars was found in carnation (Gharge et al., 2009;Shiragur et al., 2004).Variation in leaf area indicates additive gene effects would be effective in gerbera (Nair and Shiva, 2003), dahlia (Vikas et al., 2011) and in chrysanthemum (Barigidad and Patil, 1992).Leaf area was found to be positively related with flower yield in carnation (Mahesh et al., 1996).
Chlorophyll content: Chlorophyll content varied significantly among chrysanthemum cultivars.Maximum chlorophyll content was obtained from V10 (59.0 %) and lowest was obtained from V29 (23.9 %) at mature stage (Table 01).This finding referred that V10 (Sunny Yellow) produced maximum chlorophyll percentage.Similar findings were obtained in wheat by Hamblin et al. (2014).This variation in chlorophyll percentage might be attributed to genetically differences.This variation might be due to the varietals characters as reported by (Thomas and Lekharani, 2008) in orchid.Chlorophyll content in leaf enhanced photosynthetic activity, which produce carbohydrates.Carbohydrates serve as energy source for growing bud, flower opening and longevity.The ultimate effect of all these factors resulted into strong and long flower stalks, large sized buds or flower (Tarannum, 2014).Days to flower bud initiation: Significant variation was found (visual observation) among 32 chrysanthemum cultivars for the number of days to the emergence of flower bud (from days after transplantation of chrysanthemum suckers).Late flower bud initiation was found in V9 (52.7 days) while earlier in V3 (17.8 days) (Table 02).This findings referred that V3 (White Snowball) was early flower bud initiating cultivar.Difference in number of days for flower bud initiation, number of days for flowering among different cultivars might be due to presence of sufficient genetic variability.Similar findings were obtained in Dahlia by Mishra and Saini (1997).
Days to first petal spread: Significant variation was found among the chrysanthemum cultivars in respect of days taken to first petal spread (from days after transplantation of chrysanthemum suckers).The shortest period was required for first petal spread in V3 (39.5 days) while the longest period in V4 (71.6 days) (Table 02).The result showed that V3 cultivar (Sweet Vase) required minimum days for first petal spreading.Chrysanthemum required maximum 74.2 days for flower initiation (Wilfret, 1973) and minimum 31.25 days for first flower initiation (Joshi et al., 2010).This difference was due to genetical makeup of the cultivars.Similar variation was found in chrysanthemum (Baskaran et al., 2010) and China aster (Zosiamliana et al., 2012).
Days to final bloom: Significant difference was found among the chrysanthemum cultivars for the days taken from planting to final bloom.The shortest period was required for final bloom in V6 (52.8 days) while the longest period in V4 (77.5 days) which was statistically identical with V10 (77.3 days) ,V1 (77.2 days),V9 (76.7 days) and V30 (76.7 days) (Table 02).The result showed that V6 (Rose Pink) was early blooming cultivar.Flowering period was ranged from 50.59 to 132.99 days in chrysanthemum (Barigidad and Patil, 1996), which resulted late and early flowering habits among cultivars Flowering times in chrysanthemum are affected by varietal characters, habitat and species type (Kim et al., 2014 andRajashekaran et al., 1985).
Number of flower bud: Significant difference was observed for cumulative number of flower buds per plant in chrysanthemum cultivars at 30, 40 and 50 DAT (Figure 03).Maximum cumulative number of flower bud was found from V15 (199.0/plant)whereas minimum was found from V2 (4.3/plant) at 50 DAT of chrysanthemum cultivars (Table 02).V15 cultivar (Yellow Bay) showed the best result in case of number of flower bud per plant.
-50.0 50.0 150.0 250.0  02).This findings referred that V15 (Yellow Bay) produced maximum number of flower per branch.Numbers of maximum potential flowers per lateral branches were recorded, ranged from 6 to 8 (Wilfret et al., 1973).The highest number of flowers/branch (10.43) was produced by genotype White Anemone followed by Gauri (9.08) and Appu (7.66) (Punetha et al., 2011).Variation in number of flowers per plant is related to recurrent blooming habit due to their genetic makeup (Nadeem et al., 2011).Variation in flower yield was also observed previously in China aster (Negi and Raghava, 1985), in chrysanthemum (Chezhian et al., 1985) and marigold (Howe and Waters, 1991).

Number of flower:
Significant variation was recorded among chrysanthemum cultivars performance in respect to the number of flower per plant.Maximum number of flower was found from V15 (194.6/plant)whereas minimum was recorded form V2 (4.3/plant) (Table 02).The result showed that V15 (Yellow Bay) performed as maximum flower producing cultivar.Chrysanthemum flower number was ranged from 25.0 to 100.0/plant (Wilfret et al., 1973) and 66.0 to 301.0 /plant (Punetha et al., 2011).Cultivar Button Type Local recorded the highest number of flowers per plant (287.00),whereas cv.Cass recorded the lowest (37.00) (Baskaran et al., 2010).In an experiment Ara et al. (2012-13) recorded maximum 70 flowers per plant in Chrysanthemum.Variation in number of flowers per plant was also observed previously in chrysanthemum (Chezhian et al., 1985) and in gerbera (Mahmood et al., 2013).Further these genotypes had fairly high dry matter accumulation which might have contributed for increase flower yield.Similar results were obtained in chrysanthemum (Negi and Raghava, 1985) and in marigold (Arora and Singh, 1980) and in gerbera (Nair and Mehedi, 2004).Higher yield might be due to increase in morphological parameters like plant height, number of leaves and leaf area which might have contributed in production of more photosynthates resulting in greater accumulation of dry matter which in turn leads to production of more number of flowers per plant (Ramzan et al., 2014).Bud diameter at initiation stage: Bud diameter of chrysanthemum cultivars varied significantly at initiation stage.Maximum bud diameter was obtained from V4 and V10 (7.1 mm) cultivars whereas minimum was obtained from V19 and V24 (1.7 mm) cultivars at initiation stage (Table 03).This result showed that V4 (Chandramukhi) and V10 (Sunny Yellow) provided maximum bud diameter at initiation stage.
Bud diameter at mature stage: Significant variation was observed among chrysanthemum cultivars in terms of bud diameter at mature stage.Maximum bud diameter was found from V1 (19.1 mm) whereas minimum was found from V24 (6.3 mm) which was statistically identical with V15 (6.5 mm) and V8 (6.9 mm) (Table 03).The findings referred that V1 (Crimson Tide) provided maximum bud diameter at mature stage.Small sized flowers are produced due to the less number of petals in its flower bud and large sized flowers are produced due to more number of petals in flower bud.Similar findings were found in carnation by (Maitra and Roychowdhury, 2014) Flower head diameter: Flower head diameter showed significant variation among the chrysanthemum cultivars after blooming.Maximum flower diameter was recorded from V1 (17.6 cm) while minimum from V14 (2.8 cm) which was statistically identical with V15 (2.9) (Table 03).This result indicated that V1 (Crimson Tide) cultivar produced maximum flower diameter.Flower diameter of chrysanthemum ranged from 8.0 to 12.4 cm (Kunigunda, 2004) whereas 1.9 to 15.4 cm (Wesenberg et al., 1964) and 2.5 to 7.8 cm (Ara et al., 2012-13).The maximum diameter of 'Crimson Tide' might be due to inherent character of individual cultivars.Similar variations have been reported previously in Chrysanthemum (Kanamadi andPatil, 1993 andRajashekaran et al., 1985), in Gerbera (Mahmood et al., 2013).
Stalk length: Significant variation was recorded for stalk length among chrysanthemum cultivars.The longest stalk of chrysanthemum flower was found from V1 (20.1 cm) which was statistically identical with V13 (19.8 cm) and V2 (19.7 cm) while the shortest was found from V11 (4.4 cm) which was statistically identical with V5 (4.5 cm), V6 (4.7 cm), V9 (4.7 cm), V19 (4.8 cm), V24 (4.8 cm), V23 (4.9 cm) and V26 (5.0 cm) (Table 03).The result indicated that V1 (Crimson Tide) cultivar performed as the longest stalk length producing cultivar.This difference in stalk length could be attributed to a genetic factor which is expected to vary among cultivars.Similar findings were found in gerbera (Sarkar and Ghimaray, 2004).It was observed that the cultivars with higher plant height produced the longer flower stalk as compared to cultivars with smaller plant heights.Similar findings were reported in rose (Ramzan et al., 2014;Mantur et al., 2005;Fascella and Zizzo, 2005) and in snapdragon (Shafique et al., 2011).
Flower durability (days to 50% flower senescence): Chrysanthemum cultivars showed significant variation in terms of days taken to 50% flower senescence.Late flower senescence was recorded in V21 (20.7 days) which was statistically identical with V11 (19.8 days) while early flower senescence was observed in V24 (11.3 days) (Table 03).The result indicated that V21 (First Light) and V11 (Lavender Mum) cultivars performed best in case of flower durability.It was found that durability of potted chrysanthemum varied greatly according to the cultivars.Generally being ethylene non-sensitive flower the difference in days taken to flower senescence may be due to varietal characteristics of different chrysanthemum cultivars.Similar findings were found in rose (Tabassum et al., 2002) and in gerbera (Nair and Mehedi, 2004).

IV. Conclusion
Chrysanthemum cultivars showed wide range of variations in their growth and flowering characteristics.Maximum number of flower was found in V15 (9.4/ 20 cm branch and 194.6/plant).Large flower (17.6 cm flower head diameter) with longest stalk (20.1 cm) was found in V1.On the other hand, late flower senescence from the plant was recorded in V21 (20.7 days).Breeders can easily select the desirable characters from this wide range of variation for the development of the chrysanthemum flowers.
Figure 01.Performance of 32 chrysanthemum cultivars for plant height at different days after transplanting

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Performance of 32 chrysanthemum cultivars for number of flower bud per plant at different days after transplanting

Table 01 . Performance of 32 chrysanthemum cultivars on plant height, number of branch, number of leaf per 20cm branch, leaf area and chlorophyll content Y
X Chrysanthemum cultivars; Y In a column means having similar letter (s) are statistically identical and those having dissimilar letter (s) differ significantly as per 0.05 level of probability

Table 03 . Performance of 32 chrysanthemum cultivars on bud diameter at initiation stage and mature stage, flower head diameter, stalk length and days to 50% flower senescence
Chrysanthemum cultivars; Y In a column means having similar letter (s) are statistically identical and those having dissimilar letter (s) differ significantly as per 0.05 level of probability X