Assessment of genetic diversity in chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.)

An experiment was conducted to assess the performance for vegetative, flowering, yield, and postharvest traits in spray chrysanthemums. Significant variation was observed amongst the chrysanthemum genotypes for all the characters. The genotype Bidhan Antara recorded maximum plant height (84.75 cm), maximum number of primary branches per plant (14.67), while plant spread (51.58 cm) was observed to be maximum in Bidhan Mallika. Among flowering traits, genotype HCC-1 was the earliest for bud initiation (55.17 days); BC-28 took the minimum days to full bloom (84.33 days), had the maximum spray length (22.90 cm) and vase life (29.83 days). The maximum flower longevity (34.33 days) was noted in genotype Bidhan Sweeta. The genotype Bidhan Shova noted the maximum flower diameter (8.16 cm) and the genotype Pusa Chitraksha had the maximum number of flower heads per plant (185.33), number of flowers/spray (174.00), flower yield per plant (310.19 g), and yield/hectare (297.77 q/ha). Using the Ward method, cluster analysis was done to determine the possible diversity among the genotypes. Twenty genotypes were divided into two major categories viz. cluster 1 and cluster 2. Cluster 1 was further split into two subgroups, cluster Ia, cluster Ib, respectively. The results of principal component analysis were also in conformity with the cluster analysis.