Co-efficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance in gladiolus hybrids

The present investigation was carriedout with 18 hybrids and two check varieties of Gladiolus hybridus at Floriculture unit, Department of Horticulture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad during kharif season 2003-2004 to study the coefficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance in gladiolus hybrids. There was wide and significant variation for all the characters among the hybrids studied. ‘AB’ x ‘MC’ ‘M’ x ‘HVG’ ‘SP’ x ‘TS’ ‘MC’ x ‘HVG’ and 'MC x ‘AB’ showed superior performance over other hybrids and also check varieties with respect to number of days taken for first floret to open, spike length, number of florets per spike, rachis length and dormancy period etc. High heritability with high genetic advance was observed in hybrids for traits like spike weight, number of cormels per plant, weight of daughter corm and dormancy period of corm, which indicates usage of these for varietal improvement. It is also revealed that the improvement in Gladiolus for qualitative and quantitative characters can be done by direct selection for the desired characters like average weight of corm (planted), number of florets per spike, marketable spikes per plant, number of cormels per plant, number days taken for first floret to open.