Commercial Floriculture

Harvesting and Yield

• Marigold flower should be plucked when they attain the full size depending upon the variety.
• Plucking of flowers should be done in cool hours of the day i.e, either in the morning or evening.
• Field should be irrigated before harvesting so that, flowers keep well for longer period after plucking.
• Plucked flowers should be covered with moist gunny bags if kept overnight before taking to market.
• Productivity of plants increases considerably by regular plucking of flowers.

Yield

	No. of flowers/ha (Million)	Fresh flower (t/ha)
1) African marigold	1.5 – 2.5	11 – 18
2) Frenchmarigold	6.0 – 8.0	8 – 12

Marigold Flower Polysaccharide (MFP):
MFP can be extracted from the meal with warm (50-55oC) water.
Petals were separated from the rest of the flower and extracted in a soxhlet apparatus with methanol.

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