Manifestation of Heterosis in Exotic × Indigenous Crosses of Gladiolus

Heterosis was worked out over mid and better parents for 11 hybrid combination of gladioli for 16 characters including number of florets per spike and rachis length. Maximum percentage of heterosis was observed in individual hybrids upto 83.81% over mid-parent and 62.64% over better parents for weight of cormels per plant and number of cormels produced per plant, respectively and lowest upto -85.05% (mid-parent) and -79.30% (better parent) for number of cormels produced per plant. The best corsses identified on the basis of heterosis percentage for different characters were Ave × Mayur for days to 50% sprouting, Mayur × Heady Wine for number of leaves per shoot and plant height, Pfitzer's Sensation × Christian Jane for leaf area, weight of cormels per plant and number of seeds per capsule, Gambier Pearl × Regency for diameter of first floret and number of seeds per capsule, White Oak × Christian Jane for days to last floret opening, White oak × Smoky Lady for propagation coefficient, and Green Lilac × Heady Wine for plant height and number of capsules per spike. It was concluded that manifold increase in component characters would lead to marginal increase in number of florets pe spike and rachis length because market value of gladioli depends upon these characters.