Paliwal, Ajaya (Dr.)POULOSE, BIBIN2019-07-052019-07-052017-07http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810112028The present experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research and Demonstration Block of the Department of Vegetable Science, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, Pauri Garhwal during summer season of 2016 on 21 genotypes of both African and French marigold to estimate the genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and correlation of various traits with yield. The observations were recorded on growth, flowering and yield parameters. The analysis of variance revealed that the mean sum of squares due to genotypes were highly significant for all the characters studied, indicating a wide range of variability in the material investigated. The highest yield per plant was recorded in the genotype Coimbatore Local followed by Pusa Narangi and the lowest in genotype BC-3. The high GCV and PCV values were observed for plant height, number of days for first flower bud initiation, number of flowers per plant, number of ray florets per flower, fresh weight of the flower and yield per plant. In the present study the characters, yield per plant, number of ray florets per flower, number of flowers per plant, number of leaves per plant and plant height showed high heritability along with high genetic gain. Association analysis revealed a highly significant positive correlation of flower yield per plant with plant height, plant spread, number of primary branches, number of leaves per plant, stem diameter, fresh weight of flower, flower diameter, number of ray florets and flowering duration, indicating selection for these characters may help in crop improvement. Path analysis depicted that the characters like fresh weight of the flower and the number of flowers per plant are important characters affecting flower yield since they had a high positive direct effect. Based on D2 values, all the 21 genotypes were grouped into 5 clusters, indicating the presence of a considerable amount of genetic diversity among the genotypes under studyennullThesis