Evaluation of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) CMS (Ogura) lines for agronomic and floral traits

Abstract

In this study 7 Ogura based CMS lines were evaluated for important agronomic, flower and sex related traits. There was no significant difference among A and B lines for most of the vegetative traits. However, within the CMS lines significant differences were recorded for curd maturity, leaf number, leaf size and plant height. For most of the commercial traits like, curd weight, curd length, curd width, curd depth, total yield and harvest index no significant difference was found among male sterile A and fertile B maintainer lines except few genotypes. Normal ovary and functional nectaries in all the CMS lines indicated the potentiality of these lines for high seed set. These CMS lines with good agronomic and floral traits would be instrumental in developing indigenous F1 hybrids in cauliflower after testing their combining ability.