Variability for Qualitative and Quantitative Traits in Glory Lily (Gloriosa superba L.)

Glory lily (Gloriosa superba L.) is one of the major medicinal plants of India cultivated for its seeds which are exported to developed countries for pharmaceutical use. Identifying germplasm is an important component for efficient and effective management of plant genetic resources. Variability for qualitative and quantitative traits was investigated in 18 genotypes of G. superba collected from different regions of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. For qualitative traits, these genotypes were subjected to diversity analysis based on NBPGR descriptors. Fourteen qualitative and twenty quantitative traits of G. superba were evaluated to assess morphological variations among the genotypes collected. In qualitative traits, a large number of genotypes of the 18 clustered together, at 77% similarity in two clusters. Dendrogram constructed on the basis of twenty quantitative traits for the same set of genotypes did not reveal any clear pattern in grouping, and the genotypes were grouped into seven different clusters. Cluster analysis based on qualitative and quantitative traits revealed a different group of genotypes for each of the data-set. This clearly indicated that less variation existed between genotypes with respect to morphological traits. These easily observable morphological traits are useful tools for preliminary evaluation, because, they offer a fast and reliable approach for assessing extent of diversity in G. superba genotypes.