S M Soundarya, M Ganga, K Iyanar, D Malarvizhi
The present investigation was carried out to identify the high yielding mutants in pink and white pitchi ecotypes of royal jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum L.), based on vegetative traits viz., number of primary and secondary branches, internodal length, number of leaves, leaf length and leaf width as well as flowering traits viz., days to flowering, number of flowering cymes/branch, flower bud length, corolla tube length, bud girth, flower diameter and 100 flower bud weight than control. Based on high phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficients of variation (GCV), selection can be affected for the traits viz., flower yield per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of flowering cymes/branches, plant height, internodal length, stem girth, number of primary branches per plant, leaf length, leaf breadth and 100 bud weight. High heritability for all the 16 traits and high genetic advance in 13 traits were observed whereas, the genetic advance was moderate for corolla tube length, days to flowering and flower bud length indicating additive gene effects and selection will be very effective when these traits are considered. The correlation results are in desirable direction for flowering cymes, plant height, secondary branches and 100 bud weight, hence these traits can be given more preference during selection. This extensive growth habit of morphological as well as reproductive growth traits may be due to mutation, that finally increased flower yield. Six mutants viz., PPM-12, PPM-72, PPM-96, PPM-115, WPM-2 and WPM-25 of pink and white pitchi were identified as the best and promoted to advanced yield trials, for confirmatory results on yield and flowering traits.