Studies on genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and correlation in Alstroemeria spp.

The study was carried out to evaluate nine diverse genotypes of Alstroemeria collected from different sources. Genotypes planted in randomized block design with three replications were assessed to know the nature and magnitude of variability and genetic advance for different floricultural traits. The genotype Aladdin showed maximum mean performance for plant height (105.13 cm), spike length (94.17 cm), number of leaves per plant (38.03), flower diameter (6.12 cm) and number of shoots per plant (32.33) in one growing cycle, while minimum was observed in genotype Capri and Pink Panther for the traits, respectively. The coefficient of variation found highest for number of shoots per plant (GCV=46.86, PCV=50.51) and minimum for days taken to flowering (GCV=9.02, PCV=9.40). Heritability estimates were high for all the characters studied. Highest heritability was noticed for spike length (h²=96.93). High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was noted for plant height (h²=95.88, GA=40.46) and spike length (h²=96.93, GA=38.84). High heritability estimates coupled with high genetic advance observed for spike length and plant height, indicated the existence of wide range of variations and offers better scope for improvement through selection. High genetic advance as per cent mean was exhibited for spike length (72.12) while the minimum of 17.81 was noticed for number of days taken to flowering. In the present study, estimates of high heritability coupled with high genetic advance were observed in all the traits studied except Leaf length, leaf width, flower diameter and flower bud length, in which high heritability was combined with moderate genetic advance. Plant height gave the highest positive significant genotypic and phenotypic association with the spike length. On the contrary, days to flowering had strong negative correlation with spike length, plant height and number of shoots per plant. The character leaf width was found to have a direct significant effect on the number of shoots per plant, while a negative and direct relationship was found between leaf length and number of shoots per plant.