Evaluation of growth, flowering characters and yield of commercial annual flower crops as intercrop in coconut ecosystem

An investigation was carried out to evaluate the growth and the flowering of some of the commercial annual flower crops as intercrop in coconut ecosystem. Commercial annual flower crops viz., African marigold, French marigold, celosia, gomphrena and China aster were grown as an intercrop in coconut plantation and also under open condition for comparison. The results of the experiment showed that all of the crops performed to its optimum in the coconut shade, but less well than the open condition. The parameters viz., Plant height, internodal length, number of lateral branches, days taken for first flowering, flower diameter and yield were recorded. The yield was relatively higher in the open condition. The morphological characters were higher in the open condition and the earliness to flower bud initiation and flowering were observed in the open condition.