Assessment of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in spray chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat)

Abstract

In this study, nine genotypes of spray chrysanthemum were evaluated to determine genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance among thirteen different quantitative parameters. The research was conducted in Biotechnology-cum-tissue culture Laboratory, Department of Floriculture, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, from July 2017 to February 2018. The result showed high estimates of phenotypic and genotypic co-efficient of variations for flower weight (47.82, 47.27), number of ray florets per flower (44.81, 44,77), weight of flowers per plant (37.55, 37.02), number of flowers per plant (36.44, 36.19), and flower diameter (25.68, 25.36). The study also revealed that the PCV estimates were greater than GCV with respect to all the quantitative parameters. The narrow difference in PCV and GCV were obtained for most of the parameters studied. The high heritability values and heritability estimate coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed in flower weight, weight of flowers per plant, number of flowers per plant and flower diameter suggesting that the gene action is mostly of additive type and therefore, direct selection of such parameters will be rewarding. It was observed that heritable variability in the breeding materials, characters like flower weight, flower diameter, number of flowers per plant, weight of flowers per plant and number of ray florets per flower could be exploited for improvement through crop improvement programme.