Improving flower yield of two essential oil bearing rosa species through pruning severity

Rosa centifolia and Rosa damascena are famous essential oil producing Rosa species in Pakistan. Pruning is important and common practice used to enhance flowering. In this experiment effect of different pruning types was observed on flowering of above mentioned Rosa species grown at Rosa project, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Light (15 cm), medium (10 cm) and severe (5 cm) pruning was practiced on the plants in the month of November, 2013. The data of number of branches, flower shoot length, 100 petals weight, flower weight, number of petal per flower, weight of petals per flower, number of buds per plant, number of cut flowers per plant, total number of flowers per plant was recorded. Both the species produced similar results except 100 petals weight, which was 5.34 g in R. centifolia and 5.21 g in R. damascena. Severe pruning produced maximum flower shoot length (2.11 cm), flower weight (2.99 g), number of petal (60.11) and weight of petals per flower (2.09 g), while medium pruning produced maximum number of branches (33.70), number of buds per plant (284.17), number of cut flowers (251.56) and total number of flowers per plant (541.17). Unpruned plants produced minimum result in all parameters, which proved pruning effective for increasing yield of R. centifolia and R. damascena. Medium pruning enhances flowering in R. centifolia and R. damascena, which will be helpful for their essential oil extraction business in Pakistan.