Kumar Raj’s scientific contributions

Seventeen genotypes of Asiatic hybrid lily were evaluated for various vegetative and floral traits to ascertain genetic parameters such as variability, heritability, genetic (GCV) and phenotypic (PCV) coefficient of variation, genetic advance and correlation during 2012-2013. PKLH-2 was the earliest to flower and PKLH-12 took maximum days to flower. The maximum plant height and flower size was recorded in Stargater and Prato, respectively. PKLH-2 produced maximum number of shoots per plant. PKLH-8 exhibited the maximum number of flowers per plant. The investigation revealed wide variation for all the characters indicating sufficient genetic variability to be exploited in breeding programme. The maximum value of PCV and GCV was recorded for number of spots/cm 2 . High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for plant height and number of leaves per plant. Selection on the basis of these characters would be more effective for improvement of Lilium . Plant height, the economically important trait revealed a highly significant and positive correlation with number of leaves per plant, leaf area, flower diameter, number of flowers per plant and inflorescence length. Hence, direct selection from germpalsm lines may be effective for improvement in closely related traits.