Production Potential of Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis) as a Dual-Purpose Crop
Production Potential of Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis) as a Dual-Purpose Crop
Adel B. Salama and Reham M. Sabry*
ABSTRACT
Calendula is mainly grown as a single purpose plant for its flowers or recently for its seeds, whereas information for calendula cultivation for both flowers or petals and seed production is very scarce. A field study was conducted on two seasons to evaluate the effect of petal harvesting on flower heads fresh and dry weights, monthly and cumulative number of flower heads/plant, seed yield, fixed oil percentage and fatty acid analysis of pot marigold (Calendula officinalis). A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used to arrange the treatments in three replicates, (H): petal harvesting and (C): without petal harvesting (control). Petal harvested plants produced a significantly much more harvestable total flower yield of 297-350 per plant than control with 48-51 flower/plant. Further, petal harvesting has significant effect on the flowers number and it increased 6-7 folds; hence possibly improve the compensation ability of plants to set new buds. Petal harvesting had positive significant effects on plant fresh and dry weights, seed yield but adversely affected flower fresh and dry weights as well as seed oil percent (%). Seed oil percent ranged from 11.76 to 11.94 in petal harvesting treatment compared to control that ranged between 14.01 to 14.38. Petal harvesting resulted in a significant reduction in oil percent by 19 % and 20% when compared to no petal harvesting in the first and second season, respectively. The major constituents of the extracted oil from calendula seeds were calendic acid (45.95-46.27%) and linoleic acid (26.56-26.81%) whereas palmitic acid (5.23-5.32 %) oleic acid (5.87-6.72 %), stearic acid (3.34-3.41%), avenoleic acid (2.15-2.46%) and sterculic acid (3.27-3.89%) were the predominant constituents. It can be said from our results that it is possible to perform eighteen petal harvests to be used for pharmaceutical or coloring and dying purposes and at the same time keep the flowers on the plant and get the highest seed yield for industrial applications.
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June 2023
Vol.39, Iss. 2, Pages 298-572
