Evaluation of chamomile cultivars (Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert) in different handlings of pruning

This experiment has been performed from March to December in 1996, at Feder al University of Parana's Experimental Station of Canguiri, in the city of Pinhais - Parana - Brazil (25 degrees 26' S and 49 degrees 16' W, 947 m); C fb by Koeppen climate, temperature average of 24 degrees C maximum and 11 d egrees C minimum, rainfall annual avarage 1500mm. Chamomile is the most cultivated medicinal plant in Brazil. Despite of this , there is no much information about its cultivation. Some farmers practice pruning to uniform the height of the plants and concentrate flowering. In Argentina, animals are used for pasturing at the beginning of growth. This experimental work focused at evaluating the effect of three handlings: T0 - no pruning (control), T1 - pruning in the beginning of growth, and T2 - pruning in the first harvest, in the production of three chamomile culti vars (Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert).