Abstract
This experiment was carried out to explain the effect of pinching and nitrogen fertilization on growth and flowering Zinnia elegans plants with aim at improving flower number and longevity when planting in garden, by removing 2-3 cm from shoot tip seedling first: when formed 3-4 true leaves and the second: when formed inflorescence bud and control (without pinching), other factor was include nitrogen fertilization by using urea at 0, 75 and 150 kg/ ha. The Factorial Experiment was conducted by using the Randomized Complete Block Design with three block and eight plants for block. The results can be summarized as follows: pinching caused a significant increase in shoot number, total inflorescence number/ plant, inflorescence diameter and inflorescence dry weight, in addition, inflorescence stalk diameter, length and dry weight, on the other hand, inflorescence longevity increased from 48.85 days when compared with 37.17 days for control. Nitrogen fertilization at 150 kg/ ha caused a significant increased in all vegetative growth, inflorescence characters and chemical contents when compared with the control. In general, double pinching interact with fertilizing with 75 and 150 kg/ ha gave best results for most inflorescences characters.
