Studies on Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance in Chrysanthemum

Studies on genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance were carried out among ten genotypes of chrysanthemum for characters to identify elite genotypes to be used in breeding programme. The results showed high phenotypic and genotypic co-efficient of variation for traits like number of suckers per plant (GCV=90.13; PCV=95.67) and flower disc diameter (GCV=63.19; PCV=66.76). High heritability values were obtained for all the characterister except number of sprays per plant and plant spread. In high heritability estimate coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for number of suckers per plant (174.91), flower disc diameter (123.23) and number of flowers per plant (114.81). It was observed that heritable variability in the breeding materials characters like number of suckers per plant, flower disc diameter, number of flowers per plant, flower weight, yield per plant and number of ray florets could be exploited for improvement through crop breeding programme.