Effect of Foliage Cuttings on Seed Yield and Quality of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.)

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is an important seed spices crop of family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) and possess 2n=22 chromosomes with cross-pollination as mode of reproduction. A field experiment was conducted at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar to study the effect of foliage cuttings on seed yield and quality of Coriander. The Research material comprised of four genotypes viz. DH-5, DH-36, DH-228 and DH-246 was grown with three replications in factorial RBD. The foliage cutting was taken to make different treatments i.e. C0 (without cutting), C1 (one cutting at 45 days after sowing) and C2 (two cuttings at 45 days and 60 days after sowing). The investigation resulted that number of foliage cuttings reduced the plant growth, seed yield and quality of coriander. The crop without cutting of foliage gave the maximum plant growth along with highest seed yield which was followed by one cutting and lowest performance was observed after two cuttings. The increase in number of foliage cuttings of coriander significantly reduced the growth parameters of plant such as plant height, number of branches per plant, number of umbels per plant, number of seeds per umbel, number of seeds per umbellate, foliage and seed yield. The increase in number of foliage cutting also influenced the seed quality of coriander seed. The best quality seed with highest value of seed quality parameters such as test weight, standard germination, seedling length, seedling dry weight, vigour index-I, vigour index-II, field emergence index and seedling establishment, seed was harvested from without foliage cutting followed by one cutting at 45 days and two cuttings at 45 and 60 days after sowing. The genotype Hisar Anand (DH-5) was found best seed producing genotype. Whereas, Hisar Bhoomit (DH-228) was found best genotype both for foliage yield and seed yield.