Study on genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in african marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) under meerut region

The present Investigation conducted on 17 genotypes of African marigold depicted significant differences in all the characters studied. Genotype Pusa Basanti Gainda exhibited maximum mean performance for plant height at peak flowering period (80.00 cm), while minimum was exhibited by Indame Orange (30.90 cm). The coefficient of variation was minimum for flowering duration (GCV-13.27, PCV=13.33) and maximum for seed yield per plant (GCV=53.57, PCV=53.61). Heritabiiity estimates for all the characters were generally very high. High heritabiiity along with high genetic advance was observed for fresh weight of flowers per plant (268.83), seed yield per plant (19.20), no. of flowers per plant (33.43), plant height at peak flowering period (29.52), days commencement to flowering (20.93) and plant spread at peak flowering period (20.11). However, moderates to low genetic advance along with high heritabiiity was observed for flowering duration (19.67), no. of secondary branches per plant (19.14), no. of primary branches per plant (5.91), flower stalk length (3.50), flower diameter (2.54) and 1000 seed weight (1.81).