Marigold is an important commercial loose flower crop grown in India belonging to the family Asteraceae. The genus Tagetes comprises 33 species of which the most popular species are Tagetes erecta L. (African marigold) and Tagetes patula L. (French marigold). The crop ranks first in area and production amongst loose flowers grown in the country, occupying an area of about 64.65 thousand ha. with a production of 608.97 thousand MT. The major growing states are Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana etc. The reason for the huge popularity of the marigold among farmers is its adaptability to diverse agroclimatic conditions, the annual nature of the crop, diversity in flower colour, size and form, prolonged flowering period, and long shelf life. Besides loose flowers, the marigold is also being utilized in landscaping as bedding and pot plants. Recently, marigold has emerged as a source of carotenoids, which are widely used in the poultry industry to enhance chicken skin colour and egg yolk pigmentation for this purpose, many farmers especially in southern states of India have undertaken contract farming in marigold. The crop also finds its application in various nutraceutical and cosmetic industries. ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi has developed 03 African marigold varieties viz. Pusa Narangi Gainda, Pusa Basanti Gainda and Pusa Bahar and 04 French marigold varieties viz. Pusa Arpita, Pusa Deep, Pusa Utsav and Pusa Parv. These varieties are popular among the farmers and provide them with higher net returns per unit area. The major consumption of marigold flowers is in the domestic market especially during festive seasons thereby fetching higher returns by selling fresh produce otherwise if there is a high surplus they can opt for value addition of the crop.