Evaluating Pollinator Effectiveness on Tagetes patula Linnaeus

Genda (Tagetes patula Linnaeus, Family Asteraceae) is an erect, branched and hardy annual, usually growing about 60 cm high. Flowers of one solid colour, the typical colour being lemon yellow, but it ranges from a light sulphur yellow to a deep orange. Recently, commercial cultivation of marigold in India has risen to an estimated 13,000 hectares with annual production of 200,000 tones of flowers, the highest for any flowers grown in India. This increasing demand of growing Tagetes is not due to only religious or social purposes but for its valuable essential oil components.