Assessing Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance for Morphological Traits in Different Gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.) Genotypes

Abstract

Gladiolus, commonly known as the gladiola or simply "gladiolus," is a popular flowering plant known for its striking and vibrant flowers. It belongs to the genus Gladiolus and is part of the family Iridaceae. The present investigation was carried out at the Horticultural Research Centre of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh during Rabi season (Mid Nov - April) 2020-21 to determine the extent of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for twenty-five genotypes of Gladiolus. For all of the traits, the analysis of variance indicated extremely significant variations between genotypes. Number of spikes per plant had the highest phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), (35.81 and 23.41, respectively). For all of the traits studied, the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), while the differences were very small, indicating that the environmental influence on traits was low. The heritability estimates ranged from 42.75 (number of spikes per plant) to 99.01 (spike weight). This indicated that environmental variables had the least influence on these features. For most features, the estimated genetic progress as a percentage of mean varied from moderate to high. This finding, together with the high heritability values observed, suggested that additive gene action may exist and that simple selection for such traits may be used to improve them.