Effect of Different Nutrient Sources on Growth, Flowering and Quality Attributes of French Marigold (Tagetes patula L.) cv. Pusa Arpita

French marigold is one of the medicinal plants as well as flower crop, which was native to South America especially Mexico and belongs to the family Asteraceae or Compositae. The flowering plants also have different response to different rate of organic manures and inorganic fertilizers as well as bio fertilizers. Maximum stem height, diameter of stem, number of lateral branches, number of leaves, flowering attributes like; days taken to flowering, number of flowers, yield attributes like; flower yield per plant, and per hectare, quality parameters i.e. circumference of flower, number of florets per flower, spike length, and vase life of flower, were affected significantly by the application of 1⁄2 RDF + 1⁄2 PSB + 1⁄2 Vermicompost gave better as compared to other treatments. Application of bio-fertilizer significantly improved quality and quantity features in marigold, both inorganic and bio fertilizers have a significant effect on morphological traits. The use of organic manure and bio fertilizers along with the balanced use of chemical fertilizers is known for improving physico-chemical and biotic properties of soil, besides improving the efficiency of applied fertilizers. The role of bio-fertilizers containing symbiotic or non-symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in augmenting vegetative characters, yield attributes essential and chemical composition.