MARIGOLD BREEDING

 Marigold - Commercial loose flower crop grown in India

 It has nearly two third of total loose flower growing area in India

 Major growing states are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and
Maharashtra, parts of UP etc.

 It has gained its popularity- Easy cultivation, wide adoptability to soil and climate,
attractive colours, size and excellent keeping quality

 In Karnataka- Marigold is extensively used as loose flower for making garlands in

religious and social functions

 In N.I. 90% of production only for Garlands (Maala)

 Source of natural colour, essential oils and Thiophenes

 Family : Compositae

 Tagetus erecta (African marigold)

 Tagetus patula (French marigold)

USES

MARIGOLD-Versatile flower crop

• Loose Flower
• Garland
• Essential Oil (T. signata-4.25%)
• Pigments
• Lutein
• Poultry feed
• Trap Crop
• Hedge planting

Origin and Distribution

• Native to Central and South America especially ‘Mexico’

• It spread to different parts of the world during early part of the 16th century.

• The name ‘Tagetes’ was given after ‘Tages’, a demigod, known for his beauty.
Marigold is also known as ‘friendship flower’ in the United States.

Distributed to
• Spain – 16th century
 • South Europe – 1535 became popular under the name, ‘Rose of the Indies’
• Algeria
• France
• Mexico, Latin America
• In India it was introduced by Portuguese and it became popular and spread quickly
because of its wide adaptability.

Species and Cultivars

 Earlier Rydberg (1915) reported genus Tagetes comprises about 33 species and Bailey
(1951) mentioned over 30 species.

 Turner and Nesom (1993) reported nearly 55 species distributed in American

continent, most of them located in Mexico.

 The two species Tagetes erecta and Tagetes patula are commercially important

Tagetes erecta (African Marigold) 2n=24

 Hardy annual- 90 cm Tall, Erect branches,

 Flower are single to fully double

 Large sized and globular heads

 Excellent for mixed boarders and pots

 Not suitable for bedding

 SI and cross pollinated

 Taller than T. patula

Types of AFRICAN MARIGOLD:

 1. Carnation flowered
Carnation flowered tall: The plants grow up to a height of 75cm
Carnation flowered dwarf : grows up to 40cm, large flowering.
 2. Chrysanthemum flowered
Tall double flowered – tall plants 60-30cm and large flowered.
Dwarf double flowered – The height is 20-30cm.
 3. Tall F1 hybrids: Plants about 60 cm high, large, fully double flowers up to 12cm
across.
 4. Semi-tall F1 hybrids: This is also known as ‘hedge type’ because of uniform and
compact growth
 5. Dwarf F1 hybrids: Plants are 15 to 40cm high and of compact growth.
Inca series: Flowers are large, fully double and compact.
Space age series: Early flowering, dwarf and uniform.
Galore series: Long flowering duration, uniform.
  6. F1 Triploid: Early and very free-flowering, large and golden yellow flowers.
Tagetes patula (French Marigold) 2n=48
 Annual, Spreading & busy branches,
 Flower single to semi double
 Large sized and globular heads
 Flowers are mostly stripped or spotted in contrasting colours

Types of AFRICAN MARIGOLD:

 1. Dwarf Double: Plant 20-30cm height and bi-colour.

 2. Scabious flowered: Flowers with crested centre, wide range of colour
 3. Dwarf Double Petite: Very dwarf plants, 15-20cm high.
 4. French Dwarf Single: Plants 20-35cm high.
 5. Dwarf Triploid F1 Hybrid: Plants 25-40cm high, extremely early, profuse
flowering;
 6. Dwarf Double:
a. Dwarf All Saints: About 20cm high, good for bedding, wide range of colours.
b. Dwarf chrysanthemum: Plants are 20cm high, compact and bushy.
 7. Tetraploid Hybrids: Early flowering, brilliant orange, fully double, carnation type
blooms, 6-7cm across.

Tagetes lucida (Sweet scented Marigold/ Mexican Marigold) 2n=22

 Tender perennial
 Simple unbranched 75 cm
 Yellow coloured

Tagetes tenuifolia (T. signata/ signet marigold) 2n=24

 Stipped mexican marigold

 Erect branched annual
 Edge/ rock garden

Genetics and Breeding

Diploid species (2n) Tetraploid species (4n)

(i) Tagetes erecta : 24 1. T. patula : 48
(ii) T. tenuifolia : 24 2. T. minuta : 48
(iii) T. elangeta : 24 3. T. remotiflora : 48
(iv) T. lemmonii : 24 4. T. mendocina : 48
(v) T. jaliscensis : 24 5. T. biflora : 48
(vi) T. lucida : 22
Inheritance of different traits

Double flower vs Single flower: Double flowering habit-monogenic trait and dominant to
single flowering.
Type of flowers: The carnation type -dominant over cupid type.

Flower colour: The flower colour is governed by two or more factors. The dominant allele
for the presence of anthocyanin present in the lobes of disc corolla. Orpiment (orange
yellow) is dominant over yellow (13:3).

Flat Vs Tubular Flowers: Flatness of florets was found to be monogenic dominant over
tubular florets.

The objective of breeding: Breeding for

 New, high yielding & better quality marigold types

 Create wide range of colours useful for bedding/pot
 Cultivar with novel colour
 Good colour retention
 Long duration of flowering
 Uniform flower size
 More shelf life
 Adoptability to various agroclimatic conditions
 Medium sized flowers for garland purpose
 High Xanthophylls/pigment production
 Resistance to disease – Fusarium Wilt, Gray Mould
 Pest- Spider mite, thrips, Aphids

Pot Varieties
• Dwarf in stature, bushy growth habit, Early flowering

Breeding methods:

• Introduction,
• Selection,
• Hybridization and
• Biotechnological tools

Introduction and Evaluation:

 At N.B.R.I., Lucknow in African marigold they release 5 varieties, namely,

Alaska, Doubloon, Fire Glow, Golden Jubilee and Yellow Fluffy for loose-flower
production.

 And eight varieties, viz. Geraldine, Golden Climax Giant, Orange Fluffy, Orange
Mums, Sovereign, Sun Giants, Super Chief Double and Yellow Climax for cut
flower purpose.

P.A.U., Ludhiana for loose flower production:

African marigold-2 varieties like Giant Double African Orange and Climax.
French marigold- 3 varieties Rusty Red, Butter Scotch and Red Brocade.

3 varieties, namely, Valencia, Sussana and Tetraploid for bedding purpose.

Most of the introductions are from USA, Australia and Netherlands

Selection:

IARI: Pusa Arpita- form heterozygous material, medium Orange

Pusa Deep: It is an early flowering variety of French marigold

HAU, Hissar: Hisar Beauty, Hisar Jaffri-2

Hybridization:

Inter specific hybridization

• T. erecta X T. patula--cross compatible & cross pollinated

• These hybrids are early flowering, medium in height, growing about 60cm tall, plants
are bushy and produces double flowers, colour combination of red and gold and are
called ‘Red and Gold’ hybrids. Ex: Burpee’s Gold, Red Glow, Red Gold, Yellow
Nugget

• T. erecta X T. tunifolia ----- incompatible

• Tagetes erecta x Tagetes jaliscensis has been done by Towner (1961, 1962).

Inter variatal hybridization

• Alaska X Cupid Orange

• Alaska X Hawaii

• Katrain x Cupid Orange Mum

• Pusa Narangi Gainda-Cracker Jack X Golden Jubilee- Suitable for

garland/Pigments

• Pusa Basanti Gainda- Golden Yellow X Sun Giant- Suitable for pots and beds in
garden

IIHR, Bangalore

ARKA BANGARA

 Yellow gold colour

 Petaloid sterile flowers

ARKA HONEY
  French marigold photo insensitive variety with double coloured flower
 Plants are dwarf with spreading habit and floriferous. Flowering is observed
throughout the year.

ARKA PARI: French marigold photo insensitive variety with dwarf plant habit with
spreading habit and floriferous nature. Flowers are orange in colour. Colour changes into
different shades of orange depending upon light, temperature and stage of flower (RHS
colour chart -Orange Group N-25B in the beginning changes N-25 C and N-25 D).
Flowering is observed throughout the year. Flower initiation starts 30 days after planting
with a flowering duration of 9 weeks.

 Duration of crop: 3 months

 Flower size: 4.3 cm
 Number of flowers : 500-600/plant
 Flower yield/acre: 4.7tons/acre

Hybridization methodology:

• Select the male and female parents based on objective, select the flowers, cover them
with bags

• Collect the anthers in petriplates, keep in warm place under the lamp to burst

• Dust the pollen on the stigmatic surface of all the MS female flower, Bag it

• If pollination is successful, flowers dry and receptacle swells

• 3-6 weeks for seed to mature, collect the seeds, if it is matured

• Collect the flower heads just sheetering on container, keep in shade

GMS exists through with male sterile plants are able to produce seeds which again produces
male sterile plants when crossed with related plants having restorer constitutions

Male sterility 2 types

• 1. Apetalus

• 2. Double flowered

• Apetalous sterility is preferred to full double flowers because the latter type is prone
to break down and it gives rise to a few disc florets at later stages which may be due
to either age of plants or environmental factors.

• Apetalus : Preferred, because no need of emasculation

• Less attractive to pollinating insects

Male sterility is governed by a recessive gene and is incorporated into the seed parent.
It is maintained by crossing the heterozygous plants with the sterile ones.
Biotechnology: Molecular markers are used for identification of male sterility

Commercial F1 hybrids: Apollo, Climax, Inca Yellows

 Sakata Seed India Pvt. Ltd

 Namdhari Seeds Pvt. Ltd

 East West seeds India Pvt. Ltd

 Yield: 3-5 kg/Plant

INCA Series Thailand-25 seeds - $2.49: Inca II Gold, Inca II Orange

Laddu Series, Calcutta-Laddu Yellow- Cuttings

Important varieties of African marigold:

Alaska, Fire Glow, Golden Jubilee, Golden age, Yellow Fluffy, Giant Double African
Orange, Climax (F1), Golden Climax and Tant Bangalore selection, Pusa Narangi Gainda,
Pusa Basanti Gainda, Orange Lady, Orange Double, Sun Giant, Texas, Yellow stones or Gold
Sumith, Golden Mammoth mum, Guinea Gold, Happiness, Hawaii, Honey comb, Man of the
moon, Mr. Moon light, Giant sunset, Orange Fluffy, Orange mums, Prime rose, River side

French Marigold: Brownie Scout, Burpees Nugget, Cupid Yellow, Orange flame, Petite
(W), (Y), Petite spray, Petite Gold, Yellow pygmy, Rusty Red, Butter Scotch, Red Brocade,
Valencia, Sussana, Bolero, Bonita, Burpee’s Gold Nugget, Burpee’s red and gold, Caronea,
Cupid Yellow, Fiesta, Goldie, Harmony, Lemon drop, Melody, Arka honey, Arka pari

Seed production of marigold:

 Highly cross pollinated crop

 It requires open sunny situation for better growth and flowering.

 For seed production, under North Indian conditions, August planting and may-june and
feb-mar planting for southern plains has been found most promising.

 Seedlings are transplanted at 3-4 weeks after sowing.

 The planting is done at a spacing of 60 x 40 cm and plants start blooming seventy days
after transplanting.

 Rouging out of off-types should be done during flowering

 African marigolds are pinched at 45 DAT to encourage branching

Certified seed production

Land Requirements
A seed crop of Marigold shall not be eligible for certification if planted on land on which the
same kind of crop was grown in the previous year

Field Inspection

A minimum of three inspections shall be made as follows

• at the stage of 6-7 pairs of leaves: to determine isolation, volunteer plants and other
relevant factors

• during flowering: to check isolation, off-types

• at maturity: to verify designated diseases, true nature of plant

Isolation:

Factors Minimum distance (meters)

Foundation Certified
Fields of other varieties 600 300

Fields of the same variety not conforming to varietal 600 300

purity requirements for certification

Hybrid seed production

• Genetic male sterility is employed for hybrid seed production

• Male sterile lines multiplied through in-vitro culture

Field Inspection

A minimum of Four inspections shall be made as follows

• at the stage of 6-7 pairs of leaves: to determine isolation, volunteer plants and other
relevant factors

• second and third inspection during flowering: to check isolation, off-types

• fourth inspection at maturity prior to harvesting: to verify designated diseases, true nature
of plant

Male sterility for hybrid seed production in marigold

• The mechanics of using genetic male sterility for F1 hybrid seed production under
open field conditions require

• (1) a normal fully fertile inbred line & (2) an inbred line which is maintained by
crossing together known heterozygous (Ms ms) and male sterile (ms ms) plants
 • Seeds should always be harvested from msms plants.

• The cross of ms ms x Ms ms should be repeated in every generation, as it will

segregate in 1 Fertile: 1 Sterile ratio

• A ratio of male sterile line to pollinating fertile line is dependent on the size of hybrid
block, but ratio of 3 male sterile:1male fertile has proved to be the optimum

• For hybrid production of marigold we need to maintain three types of plants, male
sterile, female plants, heterozygous maintainer plant which are used to further
produce the male sterile plants by crossing them with the male sterile plants and
desired homozygous male plants to be used for production of new hybrids

Characteristics of ms (male sterile line)

• Is should have desirable traits

• Male sterility should be stable

• Synchronous flowering with pollinator parent and maintainer plant

• Its genetic constitution is homozygous recessive(msms)

Characteristics of tester (restorer) parent

• Pure with uniform population

• Produce abundant pollens

• Synchronous flowering with male sterile plants

• Its genetics constitutions is homozygous dominant (MSMS)

Characteristics of maintainer line

• Used for maintenance of ms-line.

• Its generics constitution is heterozygous (Msms)

• Synchronous flowering with male sterile plants.

Steps involved in hybrid production of marigold

• Selection of inbred lines (MS line and tester parent)

• Testing the combining ability ( gca and sca) of inbred lines
• Cross the inbreed lines with male sterile lines
• Harvesting of crossed heads

GMS is being used for FI hybrid seed production

 • Two types of male sterility in marigold; Apetalous form (with no stamens) & Double
flowered (produces no anthers in the disc florets)

• Apetalous type has greater reliability and is being used for the production of F1
hybrid seeds on a commercial scale in U.S.A., U.K., Holland, France

• A male sterile plant has a genetic constitution of ms ms (homozygous recessive),

while male fertile plants may be of Ms or Ms ms genotypes

• The heterozygote Ms ms will segregate to give 1 Ms Ms: 2 Ms ms: 1 ms ms

• Therefore, for use as a parent in F1 hybrid production, the male sterile line is
perpetuated by back-crosses of double recessive (ms ms) male sterile by heterozygous
male fertile (Ms ms) maintainer

• In the subsequent generations, 50 per cent of the progeny will be male fertile Ms ms,
while the other 50 per cent will be male sterile ms ms

• Male sterility phenomenon can be incorporated into standard varieties through five or
six generations of back-crossing

• For the actual production of F1 hybrid seed in the field, the back cross generation is
inter-planted with the other parental line (which is a normal male fertile inbred)
and heterozygous male fertile occurring in back-cross generation should be removed
as soon as identification is possible, thus leaving male sterile plants only

• The male sterile plants can be identified in the early stage by the shape of flower
buds as these plants have pitcher type of flower buds, whereas the male fertile plants
have normal flower buds

Harvesting & Threshing

• Flower heads are harvested at complete drying stage irrespective of physiological

maturity

• Harvesting of physiologically mature flower/heads require extra care while drying

• Seed is extracted manually or by beating with sticks

 • Seed cleaning by natural current or with the help of desert cooler

• The seed yield of 312-375 kg/ha is obtained.

Seed standards

Factors Standards for each class

Foundation Certified
Pure seed (minimum) 97.0% 97.0%
Inert matter (maximum) 3.0% 3.0%
Other crop seeds (maximum) 10/kg 20/kg
Weed seeds (maximum) 5/kg 10/kg
Germination (minimum) 70% 70%
Moisture (maximum) 9.0% 9.0%
For vapour-proof containers (maximum) 7.0% 7.0%