Beniwal, B.S.Ghanshyam2016-10-292016-10-292012http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/82889The present investigation, “Evaluation and characterization in gladiolus (Gladiolus hybridus Hort.)” was carried out in the experimental orchard of Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during winter season of year 2010-11 on 20 cultivars of gladiolus to estimate genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and varietal characterization. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The observations were recorded for vegetative, floral, spike yield and corm characters. All the genotypes differed significantly which indicated a wide range of variation existed among the cultivars under study. The highest spike yield, corm yield and cormels yield per plant was exhibited by Chandni followed by Surya Kiran, Gunjan and Jyotsna. The estimates of heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean were high for days to slipping stage, days to full emergence of spike, days to first floret to show colour and days to opening of first floret. The correlation and path coefficient analysis revealed that number of corms produced per plot, corm sprouting percentage, estimated number of corms per hectare, floret diameter, days taken for sprouting of corm, number of leaves per plant and floret diameter contributed directly as well as indirectly to spike yield. The characters, which contributed to corm yield were corm sprouting percentage, number of spikes produced per plot, plant height and leaf length indicating selection of these characters for crop improvement and breeding strategies. The characters which directly as well as indirectly effecting the cormels yield were rachis length, floret diameter, weight of corm, days to slipping stage and can be used for improvement in cormels yield. Number of leaves per plant, plant height, number of spikes produced per plant, number of corms produced per plant, spike length and number of florets per spike were the key characters, therefore, can be used for varietal characterization.enPlanting, Developmental stages, Gladiolus, Land resources, Genetics, Genotypes, Biological phenomena, Heritability, Yields, HorticultureThesis