Combining ability analysis for flowering and quality parameter in annual chrysanthemum (Glebionis coronaria [L.] Cass. ex Spach.)

Introduction

Glebionis coronaria (L.) Cass. ex Spach. often known as Chrysanthemum coronarium L., is a flowering plant in the Asteraceae family. It is abundant throughout Europe, Northern Africa and Asia and is endemic to the Mediterranean area. Garland chrysanthemum, edible chrysanthemum, crown daisy chrysanthemum, kikuna, mirabeles, shungiku, chop suey green, crown daisy and Japanese green are just a few of common names. The annual chrysanthemum has the potential to appear at any time of the year. They are self-fertile hermaphrodites that reproduce by seed. It contrasts from the Florist's Chrysanthemum in a number of ways, including its shorter bloom time, lower photosensitivity and ability to grow higher, more vigorously and more hardily. It's a bipinnately lobed leaf herb with yellow ray florets and a tiny fragrant flower head. It is a branching annual with finely cut leaves that may reach a height of one meter. The blooms are 2.5-4 cm in diameter and occur in single or double forms (Desai, 1962) [4] with cream zones in the center (Vishnu swarup, 1967) [14] . India has a total area of 16.63 million hectares under loose flower production, with a production of 179.33 million tonnes. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar are some of India's top chrysanthemumgrowing states (Anon., 2014) [2] . A lot of variability for flower characters is available in annual chrysanthemum, In the market, importance is given to annual chrysanthemum flowers having a small disc, a greater number of petals with large size, multi-layered whorls of petals with multicolor. Estimation of combining ability is an important tool which can be utilized in the design of successful breeding programs in various ornamental crops (Bayat et al., 2012) [3] ; To understand the probable use of any genotype as a good line or tester parent in hybridization, there is a need to evaluate its own performance along with its gca effect and the performance of F1 hybrid derived from it. General combining ability (gca) of genotypes is normally associated with additive gene action, while specific combining ability (sca) governed by dominance and epistasis gene action (Malik et al., 2004) [7] . Parents differing in their combining ability and the use of good general combiners are expected to give useful segregants. In similar way, superior cross combinations can be categorized in respect to their specific combining ability effects.

It also provides necessary information on nature and magnitude of gene effects for growth traits

Material and methods

The present study was conducted in the research field of the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture of Kittur Rani Channamma College of Horticulture, Arabhavi, Karnataka during 2020-21. The experimental material comprised eight genotypes of the annual chrysanthemum. Five lines namely White Majestine, AACS-3, Sarpan White, Sarpan Yellow and Garden Aids were crossed with three testers namely Dharwad White, Dharwad Yellow and Bagalkot Local in line × tester mating design to develop ten F1 hybrids. Hand pollination of five lines was done with three testers in fifteen combinations. The lines, testers and hybrids were planted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two replications at a spacing of 60 cm × 30 cm. Uniform cultural practices were followed in all the hybrids, lines and testers. The observations were recorded for namely days to first flowering, days to 50 per cent flowering, duration of flowering, flower diameter and shelf life of flower. The data generated was used to estimate general combining ability of parents and specific combining ability of cross combinations using appropriate formulae and statistical package WINDOSTAT version 8.6.

Result and Discussion

The variances of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) of fifteen characters studied are presented in Table 1. Results of the investigation revealed that, days for first flowering and shelf life reported higher SCA variance and for the trait Days to 50% flowering, duration of flowering and flower diameter GCA variance was maximum. General combining ability (gca) and Specific combining ability (sca) effects for flowering and quality parameters in annual chrysanthemum were furnished in Table 2 to Table 5 White Majestine recorded the highest significant negative gca effect hence, was a good general combiner for getting early flowering. Cross combination White Majestine × Dharwad White recorded the highest significant negative sca effect and has a female parent with low gca and male parent with high gca indicating additive × dominance type of gene action, which can be exploited by heterosis breeding and recurrent selection. The mean sum of squares exhibited a significant difference for the line × tester effect. SCA variance was of a higher order than GCA variance indicating the major role of non-additive gene action in the expression of this trait. Similar findings were reported by Sureshkumar et al. (2004a) [13] , Anjali (2015) [1] and Mrutyunjaya (2021) [8] in China aster. Five parents reported significant gca effects for this character. White Majestine (-2.29) and Dharwad White (-0.75) were negatively significant and AACS-3 (1.61), Sarpan White (1.67) and Bagalkot Local (1.31) were reported positive significant gca effects. Eight crosses reported negative and seven crosses reported positive sca effects. six crosses showed significant sca effects viz., White Majestine × Dharwad White (-2.45), AACS-3 × Dharwad Yellow (-1.45) and Garden Aids × Bagalkot Local (-1.97) in negative and White Majestine × Dharwad Yellow (1.95), AACS-3 × Bagalkot Local (2.69) and Garden Aids × Dharwad White (2.09) in a negative direction. For days to 50 per cent flowering Sarpan Yellow was the best general combiners as shown significant negative gca effects and hence, possesses additive genes for the trait, similar result reported by Anjali (2015) [1] and Mrutyunjaya (2021) [8] in China aster. None of the crosses had significant values for the sca effect in a negative direction. Sarpan Yellow × Dharwad White showed the highest values for the sca effect. In this cross, the female parent was with higher gca and the male parent was with lower gca hence indicating additive × dominant type of gene action and can be exploited by heterosis breeding and recurrent selection. AACS-3 (2.13) reported the highest gca effect whereas, the lowest was reported by Sarpan Yellow (-2.53). AACS-3 (2.13) and Sarpan Yellow (-2.53) parents exhibited significant gca effects and the rest of the six were non-significant. Among fifteen crosses, eight crosses showed negative sca effects while the other seven crosses exhibited positive sca effects. None of the crosses showed a significant sca effect in both directions. An increase in flower duration helps in the continuous harvest of the flowers for longer days. The mean sum of squares was significant for the line effect and line × tester effect. Compared to SCA variance, GCA variance was maximum showing the role of additive gene action in the expression of this trait. The results are also in agreement with the findings of Namita et al. (2011) [9] in marigold. White Majestine followed by Dharwad White was the best general combiners for this trait which showed the highest positive gca effects. The best specific cross combination for the trait was AACS-3 × Dharwad White which had the highest positive significant sca effect. This cross has both the parents with high gca showing dominance gene action, which can be exploited by heterosis breeding and recurrent selection. The magnitude of the gca effect ranged from -4.75 to 3.52 and five parents exhibited significant gca effects. White Majestine (3.52), Dharwad White (3.37) and Dharwad Yellow (1.37) showed positive significance whereas, Sarpan Yellow (-3.28) and Bagalkot Local (-4.75) showed negative significant gca effects. Six crosses exhibited significant sca effects in both directions. The magnitude of the sca effect ranged from -8.59 (AACS-3 × Bagalkot Local) to 5.29 (AACS-3 × Dharwad White). For flower diameter Sarpan White and Sarpan Yellow were the two parents that had positive significant gca effects, hence, have additive genes for the trait. White Majestine × Dharwad Yellow was the best specific cross combination showing positive significant sca effect and had low × high gca combination indicating dominant × additive gene action and can be exploited by heterosis breeding and recurrent selection. The mean sum of squares was found significant for the line × tester effect. The maximum variance was reported by GCA compared to SCA indicating the major role of additive gene action for the trait as reported by Raghava (1984) [11] , Raghava and Negi (1993) [10] and Sureshkumar (2003) [12] in China aster, Kattera et al. (2014) [5] in annual chrysanthemum, Bayat et al. (2012) [3] in petunia. The top two parents that resulted in maximum gca effects were Sarpan White (0.63) and Sarpan Yellow (0.28) five parents exhibited significant gca effects while, three parents were nonsignificant. Four crosses among fifteen reported significant sca effects while, eleven crosses were non-significant. Positive significant sca effects were exhibited by White Majestine × Dharwad Yellow (0.42) and Garden Aids × Dharwad White (0.30). For shelf life, Sarpan White was the best general combiner for this trait which reported the highest significant positive gca effect. They seem to have additive genes for this trait. White Majestine × Dharwad White reported maximum positive significant sca effects. Thus, the crosses for the gca combination were of high × high type indicating the dominant type of gene action. Twelve crosses over the mid parent, eight crosses over the better parent and five crosses over standard check reported significant positive heterosis. White Majestine × Dharwad White and Sarpan White × Dharwad Yellow showed maximum heterosis over a standard check and also positive significant heterosis over the mid and better parent.

Five parents had a positive gca effect whereas three parents reported a negative gca effect for shelf life. The range of the gca effect varied from -2.50 to 2.00. Sarpan White (2.00) was the parent that had positive and Sarpan Yellow (-2.50) and Bagalkot Local (-0.93) parents had negative significant gca effects. Among fifteen crosses, six crosses reported negative sca effects and the rest of the crosses reported positive sca effects. White Majestine × Dharwad White (2.63) and AACS-3 × Bagalkot Local (2.10) and Sarpan Yellow × Dharwad White (2.30) crosses showed positive significant sca effects and AACS-3 × Dharwad White (-2.20) cross showed negative significance for shelf life.

Conclusions

From the studies it is concluded that, the parent White Majestine followed by Sarpan White were good general combiners for days to first flowering, duration of flowering, flower diameter, For flower yield per plant, Bagalkot Local was a good general combiner. AACS-3 was the good combiner for 50% flowering, The cross Sarpan White × Dharwad White reported a significant negative sca effect for days to 50 percent flowering. White Majestine × Dharwad White cross showed a maximum negative sca effect for days to first flowering. Garden Aids × Bagalkot Local for seed yield per plant, White Majestine × Dharwad Yellow reported a significant sca effect for flower diameter, AACS-3 × Dharwad White reported a significant sca effect for the duration of flowering.

References

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