Water suitable for
irrigation was obtained from a deep well in the area. The normal
cultural practices of growing chamomile plants were followed
until harvest. The success of chamomile cultivation as
a commercial venture lies in how efficiently and effectively
one can collect the flowers at the right stage during the peak
flowering season extending over a period of 3–6 weeks. Flower
plucking is a selective process as flowers in all stages, namely,
buds, semi-opened buds, flowers in all stages of bloom appear
on the plants. Flowering will be observed on plants here and
there all over the field and these flowers are plucked at the
appropriate stage (Singh et al., 2011). So flowers were selectively
collected on 27 April, 30 April, 4 May, 8 May, and 12
May 2013. Fresh flowers weighted immediately after each collection
and after the final collection, total weight of the harvested
flowers were considered as a fresh flowers yield. A
sample of the harvested fresh flowers were used for the assessment
of carbohydrate (0.2 g of fresh leaf tissue), prolin (0.2 g
of fresh leaf tissue) and carotenoid (0.1 g of fresh leaf tissue).
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