Genetic studies in relation to improvement of gladiolus grown in partially reclaimed sodic soil

Abstract

Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) is one of the economically important and common flowering plants largely cultivated worldwide. It is very popular cut flower, because of its many forms and colours. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of 25 gladiolus varieties in partially reclaimed sodic soils of Uttar Pradesh to find out the most suitable variety to utilize the degraded waste land. The extent of variability, heritability and correlation coefficients for its floral characters were determined. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance and coefficient of variability were observed for different growth and floral attributes like plant height, plant diameter, tillers per clump, spike length, florets per spike, corm weight and corms per clump. Spike length was positively correlated with all the characters like plant height, leaf length, leaf width and average corm weight except tillers per clump at genotypic level. Number of florets per spike was significantly and positively correlated with plant diameter, leaf width, tillers per clump and corms per clump. The maximum leaf length and width were noticed in White Goddess and Green Woodpecker, respectively. However, maximum average number of cormels per clump was obtained from J V Gold and maximum average weight of cormels was obtained from Friendship. Spike length was positively and significantly associated with the plant height, leaf length & width and average corm weight.