Genetic divergence in gladiolus

The genetic divergence analysis of 60 varieties of gladiolus for 20 developmental characters showed grouping of varieties into 12 clusters. Based on cluster means, characters such as spike length, no. of florets per spike, no. of florets opening at first, no. of florets remaining open at a time, no. of capsules forming per spike and the seeds set per capsule, no. of daughter corms & cormels produced per plant, and diameter of foremost floret were major factors of differentiation among these 60 varieties. The varieties producing more no. of corms and cormels, spike length and no. of florets per spike can thus be utilized for hybridization for making improvement in these characters in this crop.