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Lilium is one of the popular and economically important
ornamental bulbous plant. It belongs to the family Liliaceae
and is native to Northern Hemisphere mainly Asia, North
America and Europe. The genus Lilium comprises around
100 species and more than 9400 cultivars. They are available
in wide range of colours, forms commercially used as cut
ower, pot plant and in landscape. Some of the cultivars
are highly fragrant and possess medicinal properties.
Lilium occupy an important place in international ower
market ranking 4th position among the top 10 cut owers
of the world (Anon 2018). The major production areas are
located in hilly states of the country like Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, J&K and recently, Haryana is emerging as a
leading potential hub for Lilium cultivation (Anon 2016).
Correlation studies determine as how far two variables are
associated with each other. The yield component is the
most important aspiration of plant and is expressed with
function of many components traits and their interaction
with the environment. Therefore, it is essential to study
the genetic variability and mutual associations between
various plant characters so that reliable selection criteria
for genetic improvement of yield and other desirable traits
can be performed.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
An experiment was conducted for two years (2016-18)
Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 90 (6): 1130–4, June 2020/Article
https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v90i6.104784
Genetic variability and correlation studies among different Lilium genotypes
SANGEETA KUMARI*, S R DHIMAN, M R DHIMAN, PUJA SHARMA and R K DOGRA
Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India
Received: 09 May 2019; Accepted: 11 September 2019
ABSTRACT
The present study was carried out for two years (2016-18) to estimate the genetic variability, heritability, genetic
advance, genetic gain and correlation among 18 Lilium genotypes. Findings revealed characters such as number of
bulblet/plant, number of leaves/plant and number of owers/plant recorded high genotypic coefcient of variability
(GCV). High heritability coupled with moderate genetic advance recorded for number of leaves/plant, plant height
and stem length. Moderate heritability with highest genetic gain recorded for number of bulblets/plant followed by
traits such as number of leaves per plant, leaf width, number of owers/plant and weight of bulblet etc. Signicant
positive correlation of yield parameter (number of owers per plant) recorded with plant height, number of leaves per
plant, leaf length, stem length, stem diameter, duration of owering, bulb diameter and weight of bulb etc. Maximum
positive direct effect of days to ower bud formation, number of leaves per plant, bulb diameter, weight of bulb, leaf
length, stem length etc. on number of owers per plant revealed the true relationship between them and selection on
the basis of these characters would be more effective for the improvement among Lilium genotypes.
Key words: Correlation, Genotypic variability, Heritability
*Corresponding author e-mail: sangeetaa.bchhetri258@
gmail.com
in a Randomized Block Design with three replications at the
experimental farm of Dr YSP UHF, Nauni, Himachal Pradesh
under shade net house (50%) conditions. The experimental
farm is located 1276 m amsl and is characterized by sub-
temperate climate with mild summers and cool winters.
18 genotypes, viz. seven Asiatic hybrids (Navona, Prato,
Tresor, Shiraj, Brunello, Pollyana and Elite), seven LA
hybrids (Eyeliner, Ercolano, Ceb Dazzle, Best Seller, Pavia,
Salmon Classic and Cilesta), two OT hybrids (Yelloween
and Montego Bay) and two Oriental hybrids (Viviana and
Sapporo) were selected and procured from ICAR-IARI,
Regional Station, Katrain, Kullu (Himachal Pradesh).
Freshly harvested healthy and uniform size (12/14) bulbs
were stored at 4ºC in cool chamber for 9 weeks before
planting. For second year planting, previous year planted
crops were harvested and similar vernalization treatment
was given to the bulbs. Subsequently, planting was done
in growing medium comprised of soil, FYM, sand and
vermicompost in the ratio of 2:1:1:1 (v/v), spread in raised
(20 cm) beds of 60 cm × 60 cm. Basal dose of nitrogen
(6.52 g/m2), phosphorus (18.75 g/m2) and potassium (5.0
g/m2) was applied in the form of urea (3.9 g/0.6 m2), single
super phosphate (11.25 g/0.6 m2) and muriate of potash (3.0
g/0.6 m2). Bulbs were planted at a depth of 8-10 cm and
after planting drenching were carried out with solution of
Bavistin (0.1 %) and Dithane M-45 (0.2%). All the standard
cultural practices were carried out throughout the growing
period. Observations were recorded on ten randomly
selected plants of each genotype in each replication for 21
quantitative parameters (Table 1 and Table 2).
1131June 2020]
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VARIABILITY AND CORRELATION STUDIES IN LILIUM
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Coefcients of variability: The variability observed
in the characters may be attributed due to the interaction
effects of genotype and prevailing environment conditions.
Environmental variations are not xable. In our study, high
value of PCV (>30%) was recorded for number of bulblets/
plant (61.69%), number of owers per plant (44.91%),
number of leaves/plant (37.82%), weight of bulblet (35.41%)
and leaf width (30.39%) (Table 1). Similarly, Kumar (2013)
in Lilium, Pratap and Rao (2006), Kumar et al. (2015) in
gladiolus and Jhon et al. (2006) in tulip also reported higher
PCV than GCV for most of the characters.
Moderate values of PCV (15-30%) for weight of bulb
(24.03%), stem length (22.15%), days to sprouting (20.37%),
leaf length (20.14%), stem diameter (18.12%), bud length
(16.28 %), vase life (15.30 %) and plant height (15.25%).
High value of GCV (>30%) obtained for number
of bulblets per plant (54.77 %) followed by number of
owers/plant (43.4%) number of leaves/plant (37.68%);
moderate values of GCV (15-30%) for characters such as
weight of bulblet (29.22%), weight of bulb (23.52%), stem
length (22.04%), days to sprouting (20.25%), leaf length
(19.90%), stem diameter (16.83%), bud length (15.93%)
and low GCV values (<15%) were observed for per cent
bulb sprouting (1.80%), plant height (14.23 %), days to
ower bud formation (11.62%), days to rst ower (9.25%),
size of the ower (10.70%), tepal length (13.00%), tepal
width (14.40%), duration of owering (10.00%), vase life
(13.00%) and bulb diameter (9.91%).
Coefcients of variability varied in magnitude from
character to character indicating great diversity in the
experimental material used. High GCV recorded for number
of bulblets/plant, number of owers/plant and number of
leaves/plant indicating these traits were little inuenced by
environment and selection of these traits for improvement
will be effective. These results are in conformity with
Choudhary et al. (2012) and Kumar et al. (2010) in gladiolus.
Heritability: The estimates of heritability in broad
sense give a measure of transmission of characters from
one generation to another thus, giving an idea of heritable
portion of variability and enabling the plant breeder in
isolating the elite selection in the crop. High heritability
(>80%) estimates were recorded for parameters like; days
taken for bulb sprout emergence (98.86%), plant height
(87.06%), number of leaves/plant (99.29%), leaf length
(97.62%), leaf width (95.22%), stem length (99.00%), days
Table 1 Pooled estimates of mean, genotypic & phenotypic coefcient of variability, heritability, genetic advance and genetic gain
among Lilium genotypes
Character Mean ± Standard
error
Range Coefcients of variability (%) Heritability
(%)
Genetic
advance (%)
Genetic
gain (%)
PCV GCV
Days taken for bulb sprout
emergence
48.26 ± 0.86 33.50 – 66.89 20.37 20.25 98.86 20.02 41.49
Per cent bulb sprouting (%) 98.70 ±1.59 93.33 - 100.00 2.68 1.80 45.31 2.47 2.50
Plant height (cm) 71.07 ± 3.18 53.55 - 87.46 15.25 14.23 87.06 19.44 27.36
Number of leaves/plant 48.35 ±1.26 18.37 - 80.92 37.82 37.68 99.29 37.40 77.35
Leaf length (cm) 10.27 ± 0.26 6.55 - 13.81 20.14 19.90 97.62 4.16 40.51
Leaf width (cm) 2.11 ± 0.11 1.43 - 3.92 30.39 29.66 95.22 1.26 59.61
Stem length (cm) 50.99 ± 0.92 32.03 - 69.24 22.15 22.04 99.00 23.04 45.18
Days to ower bud
formation
70.89 ± 0.35 54.02 – 87.12 11.63 11.62 99.73 16.94 23.90
Bud length (cm) 9.04 ± 0.25 6.13 - 12.32 16.28 15.93 95.79 2.90 32.12
Days to rst ower 105.23 ± 0.38 82.23 – 119.29 9.26 9.25 99.77 20.03 19.04
Stem diameter (cm) 0.56 ± 0.03 0.40 - 0.72 18.12 16.83 86.21 0.18 32.18
Size of the ower (cm) 16.11 ± 0.46 13.29 - 20.43 11.26 10.70 90.27 3.37 20.93
Number of owers/plant 4.06 ± 0.38 1.78 - 8.05 44.91 43.43 93.52 3.51 86.51
Tepal length (cm) 10.0 ± 0.29 7.48 - 12.45 13.47 13.00 93.18 2.61 25.86
Tepal width (cm) 3.21 ± 0.11 2.35 - 3.97 14.99 14.40 92.26 0.92 28.49
Duration of owering
(days)
13.95 ± 0.68 11.96 - 16.28 11.63 10.00 73.94 2.47 17.71
Bulb diameter (cm) 4.11 ± 0.28 3.16- 4.79 13.03 9.91 57.83 0.64 15.52
Weight of bulb (g) 25.56 ± 1.03 13.86 - 36.03 24.03 23.52 95.80 12.12 47.43
Number of bulblets/plant 0.96 ± 0.22 0.42 - 2.23 61.69 54.77 78.82 0.96 100.16
Weight of bulblet (g) 2.01 ± 0.33 0.62 - 3.10 35.41 29.22 68.07 1.00 49.66
Vase life (days) 6.74 ± 0.44 6.67 - 9.20 15.30 13.00 72.18 1.53 22.76
1132 [Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 90 (6)KUMARI ET AL.
88
Table 2 Pooled analysis of coefcients of correlation at genotypic level (above diagonal) and phenotypic level (below diagonal) among different characters in Lilium genotypes
*C 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
1 - -0.03 0.24 -0.38** -0.56** 0.74** 0.23 0.65** 0.52** 0.63** -0.05 0.42** -0.29* 0.38** 0.36** -0.11 -0.81** -0.48** -0.22 0.28* 0.37**
2 - 0.31* 0.20 0.32* 0.10 0.32* -0.07 0.14 -0.14 0.04 0.07 0.26 -0.02 -0.17 0.16 0.33* -0.09 0.03 0.11 0.00
3 - 0.65** 0.48** -0.12 1.01** 0.06 0.33* 0.17 -0.03 0.15 0.74** 0.16 -0.24 -0.37** -0.05 0.23 -0.05 0.20 0.20
4 - 0.74** -0.62** 0.60** -0.51** -0.24 -0.37** 0.15 -0.35** 0.90** -0.30* -0.50** -0.05 0.41** 0.62** 0.34* 0.29* 0.03
5 - -0.67** 0.49** -0.64** -0.06 -0.48** 0.24 -0.21 0.75** -0.16 -0.24 -0.07 0.80** 0.58** 0.29* 0.00 -0.38**
6 - -0.09 0.60** 0.49** 0.50** 0.03 0.63** -0.44** 0.49** 0.56** 0.13 -0.65** -0.48** -0.29* 0.24 0.51**
7 - 0.05 0.32* 0.15 0.00 0.14 0.72** 0.18 -0.15 -0.41** 0.00 0.24 0.02 0.24 0.17
8 - 0.40** 0.94** -0.58** 0.43** -0.33* 0.42** 0.15 -0.04 -0.70** -0.62** -0.01 0.19 0.26
9 - 0.32* 0.21 0.89** -0.07 0.93** 0.67** 0.31* -0.26 -0.20 -0.30* 0.07 0.11
10 - -0.63** 0.31* -0.22 0.29* 0.02 -0.11 -0.62** -0.46** 0.10 0.29* 0.24
11 - 0.14 0.17 0.28* 0.40** 0.20 0.37** 0.38** -0.21 0.20 0.01
12 - -0.15 0.89** 0.74** 0.39** -0.31* -0.32* -0.35** 0.15 0.35*
13 - -0.13 -0.39** -0.15 0.36** 0.47** 0.33* 0.30* 0.05
14 - 0.73** 0.30* -0.16 -0.15 -0.21 0.16 0.13
15 - 0.32* -0.24 -0.14 -0.27 0.08 0.02
16 - 0.17 0.17 0.21 0.42** 0.11
17 - 0.58** 0.13 0.1 -0.68**
18 0.19 0.30* -0.16
19 - 0.34* 0.14
20 - 0.31*
21 -
*Signicant at 5% level of signicance; **Signicant at 1% level of signicance. *C: Characters=1: Days taken for bulb sprout emergence; 2: Per cent bulb sprouting (%); 3: Plant height
(cm); 4: Number of leaves/plant; 5: Leaf length (cm); 6: Leaf width (cm); 7: Stem length (cm); 8: Days to ower bud formation ; 9: Bud length (cm); 10: Days to rst ower; 11: Stem
diameter (cm); 12: Size of the ower (cm); 13: Number of owers/plant; 14: Tepal length (cm); 15: Tepal width (cm); 16: Duration of owering (days); 17: Bulb diameter (cm); 18: Weight
of bulb (g); 19: Number of bulblets/plant; 20: Weight of bulblet (g); 21: Vase life (days)
1133June 2020]
89
VARIABILITY AND CORRELATION STUDIES IN LILIUM
to ower bud formation (99.73%), bud length (95.79%),
days to rst ower (99.77%), stem diameter (86.21%), size
of the ower (90.27%), number of owers/plant (93.52%),
tepal length (93.18%), tepal width (92.26%) and weight of
bulb (95.80%) and moderate heritability estimates (50-80%)
were observed for duration of owering (73.94%), vase life
(72.18%), bulb diameter (57.83%), number of bulblets/plant
(78.82%) and weight of bulblet (68.07%).
High value of heritability indicates that there is a
very good scope for the improvement for these traits. Low
heritability values suggest the involvement of environmental
component in the expression of character thereby direct
selection of a particular character would be futile; hence
indirect selection needs to be adopted. In present study,
high estimates of heritability were obtained for all the
characters except per cent bulb sprouting. These results are
in agreement with the earlier ndings of Jhon et al. (2006)
in tulip and Dhiman et al. (2015) in Lilium.
Genetic advance and genetic gain: High heritability
estimates along with high genetic advance (>50) as per cent
of mean will be more useful than heritability alone to know
the ultimate effect of selection. High heritability coupled
with moderate genetic advance was observed for number
of leaves/plant (37.40%) suggesting the involvement of
dominant and epistatic gene action and these traits can be
improved through hybridization. Kumar (2013) also reported
high heritability with moderate genetic advance as per cent
of mean for number of leaves/plant, ower diameter, bud
diameter, petal breadth and bulb height among different
Asiatic Lilium hybrids.
In the present study low genetic advance (<25%)
reported for most of the parameters. High heritability along
with low genetic advance observed in traits, viz. days taken
for bulb sprout emergence (20.02%), leaf length (4.16%),
leaf width (1.26%), stem length (23.04%), days to ower
bud formation (16.94%), bud length (2.90%), days to rst
ower (20.03%), stem diameter (0.18%), size of the ower
(3.37%), number of owers/plant (3.51%), tepal length
(2.61%), tepal width (0.92%) and weight of bulb (12.12%)
indicating that high heritability of these characters is purely
governed by favourable environmental conditions and
selection of such traits may not be useful. High heritability
along with low genetic advance for days to rst ower has
also been reported by Dhiman et al. (2015) in Asiatic hybrid
lily and Bhatia et al. (2017) in tulip.
Moderate heritability with highest genetic gain
(100.16%) recorded for number of bulblets/plant. Verty et
al. (2017) and Naresh et al. (2015) also reported highest
genetic gain for number of cormels/plant in gladiolus. High
heritability along with high genetic gain observed for the
traits like; number of leaves per plant (77.35%), leaf width
(59.61%) and number of owers/plant (86.51%) indicating
the involvement of both additive and non-additive gene
action signifying that simple selection will be helpful in
selecting better genotypes. High heritability along with low
genetic gain for traits such as days to ower bud formation
(23.90%), days to rst ower (19.04%) and size of the ower
(20.93%) indicating that the selection for these characters
would not be effective for improvement.
Coefcients of correlation: In oriculture industry,
cut owers are the most important component. Genotypes
which possess the characteristic of high yield and wider
climatic adaptability along with several other economic
and social aspects are ideal. However not even a single
species or variety of plant material will meet all of these
criteria. Therefore, direct and indirect selection of various
traits is carried out for crop improvement purposes. Positive
correlations ensure simultaneous improvement in one or
more variables and negative correlations bring out the need
to obtain a compromise between the desirable traits.
Genotypic correlation coefficient: Estimates of
coefcient of correlation worked out at genotypic level
revealed the strong positive and signicant correlation of
number of owers/plant with plant height (0.74), number
of leaves/plant (0.90), leaf length (0.75), stem length (0.72),
days to ower bud formation (0.43), bud length (0.89),
days to rst ower (0.31), bulb diameter (0.36), weight of
bulb (0.47), number of bulblets/plant (0.33) and weight of
bulblet (0.30). Balaram and Janakiram (2009) also reported
positive correlation between number of leaves/plant and
orets/spike in gladiolus. More photosynthates are made
available through more number of leaves which in turn
improved the number of owers/plant.
Plant height which is an important aesthetic trait for
cut ower had signicant and positive correlation with per
cent bulb sprouting (0.31), number of leaves/plant (0.65),
leaf length (0.48), stem length (1.01), bud length (0.33) and
number of owers/plant (0.74) which could be improved
with the improvement in any of these characters. These
results are in close agreement with Dhiman et al. (2015)
in Lilium and Bhatia et al. (2017) in tulip.
Signicantly high positive correlation of size of the
ower reported with days taken for bulb sprout emergence
(0.42), leaf width (0.63), tepal length (0.89), tepal width
(0.74), duration of owering (0.39) and vase life (0.35).
Lilium hybrids are commercially propagated by
bulbs. So there is a need to improve the multiplication
potential either by selecting the genotypes with high bulb
multiplication coefcient or via indirect improvement of
traits associated with bulb size. In our study, bulb diameter
recorded positive correlation with per cent bulb sprouting
(0.33), number of leaves/plant (0.41), leaf length (0.80),
stem diameter (0.37), number of owers/plant (0.36)
and weight of bulb (0.58). Likewise weight of bulb was
positively correlated with number of leaves/plant (0.62),
leaf length (0.58), stem diameter (0.38), number of owers/
plant (0.47), bulb diameter (0.58) and weight of bulblet
(0.30) indicating improvement in size and weight of bulb
could be achieved through selection of any of these traits.
Similar results were also reported by Kumar (2013) in
Lilium. Vase life is an important parameter which decides
the overall present ability and acceptability of cut ower.
Vase life recorded signicant positive correlation with days
taken for bulb sprout emergence (0.37), leaf width (0.51),
1134 [Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 90 (6)
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KUMARI ET AL.
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size of the ower (0.35) and weight of bulblet (0.31).
Hence it can be concluded that yield and other aesthetic
traits in Lilium found to be positively correlated with number
of leaves/plant, leaf length, stem length, weight of bulb and
weight of bulblet and direct selection of such traits will be
benecial in further crop improvement.
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