Stability Analysis for Earliness and Corm Characters in Gladiolus (Gladiolus hybridus Hort.)

A field study was conducted in gladiolus (Gladiolus hybridus Hort.) in the floriculture field of Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, KRCCH (University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad) during 2005-2006. Fourteen promising cultivars were planted under three environments, viz, shade-house, polyhouse and the open condition, and tested for various characters related to earliness. Genotypes x Environment interactions were significant for days to spike emergence and days from first floret to last floret opening. For days to corm sprouting, genotypes Sylvia (4.24), American Beauty (7.87), Candiman (9.6), White Prosperity and Priscilla (12.09) showed low mean values, i.e., early sprouting. For days taken from first to last floret opening, genotypes Eighth Wonder (15.87), Melody (14.51), Friendship (14.49), Pricilla (14.29), Pacifica (13.80), White Prosperity (13.80) and Vedanapoli (13.56) were stable, with high mean values. On the basis of mean performance, the genotype Vedanapoli was stable for number of daughter corms per plant (2.22). Genotypes Pacifica (6.13cm) and Eighth Wonder (6.09cm) were stable for corm diameter, with high mean values. Though 'Vedanapoli' showed unpredictable performance for average weight of corm, ten cormel weight and number of cormels per plant, it gave the highest corm yield per plant and showed predictable performance for corm diameter, exhibiting a great promise for hybridization with consistent corm yield outcome.