Optimizing Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) Petal and Pigment Yield

• Published in: Crop science Vol. 43; no. 6; pp. 2118 - 2124
• Main Authors: Bosma, Theresa L, Dole, John M, Maness, Niels O
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison Crop Science Society of America 01.11.2003; American Society of Agronomy
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Ammonium; Ammonium nitrate; Biological and medical sciences; Cropping systems. Cultivation. Soil tillage; Crops; Cultivars; Ecology; egg yolk; Flowers; Flowers & plants; Food additives; food coloring; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; lutein; Management; manual harvesting; mechanical harvesting; Natural & organic foods; Pigments; poultry skin; Seasons; Tagetes erecta; Tending. Growth control; Tillage. Tending. Growth control; transplant production; COROLLA; Transplanting; Natural dye; Tagetes erecta; Xanthophyll; Mechanical harvesting; Cropping system; Food additive; Compositae; Optimization; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Production; Pigments; Flower crop; Spermatophyta; Intraspecific comparison; Yield component; Cultivar
• ISSN: 1435-0653; 0011-183X; 1435-0653
• DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2003.2118

African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) flower pigments can be extracted and used as a natural food additive to color egg yolks orange and poultry skin yellow. Five cultivars were examined for their ability to be grown commercially and mechanically harvested. 'E-1236' was consistently a top producer for three seasons in terms of flower number, flower diameter, plant and flower canopy height, plant stand, and fresh flower, dried flower, and dried petal yield. E-1236 produced the greatest quantity of lutein, a carotenoid pigment, in 1998 (22.0 kg ha-1), and E-1236 and ‘Orange Lady’ both produced the greatest quantities in 1999 (20.7 and 21.3 kg ha-1, respectively). Transplanted rather than direct-seeded plants produced two more harvests in a single season resulting in greater amounts of lutein production by transplants. In 1998, one mid-season ammonium nitrate application (28 kg ha-1) resulted in larger flower diameters with direct-seeded plants but did not affect dried petal yield. Plants were hedge trimmed in 1999 to mimic mechanical harvesting; this resulted in a 45 to 55% reduction in flower harvest data compared with hand-harvested flowers. Of the cultivars tested, Orange Lady produced the greatest quantity of lutein (10.6 kg ha-1) when hedge trimmed.