Studies of Phenotypic and Genotypic Variation for Morphological Traits in Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Aims: The “Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)” germplasm was evaluated, based on phenotypic and genotypic variability studies to identify elite divergent traits for economic yield enhancement.

Study Design: 140 germplasm lines were collected from different saffron growing areas of Kashmir and abroad viz., Afghanistan, Iran. The pedigree details of all samples were recorded. Saffron corms weighing 5g to 16g were planted in Augmented Block Design with a row length, width of 3m, 2m and inter and intra-row spacing of 20 and 10 cms, respectively.

Place and Duration of Study: The research was conducted at Advanced Research Station for Saffron and Seed Spices (ARSSSS), Pampore, SKUAST-Kashmir during cropping season 2017-18.

Methodology: Observations were recorded for 15 morphological traits viz., number of flowers corm-1 line-1, number of days to 50% flowering, fresh flower weight corm-1 line-1, inner tepal length, outer tepal length, inner tepal width, outer tepal width, anther length, anther width, style length, stigma length, fresh pistil weight, dry pistil weight, leaf length, number of leaves corm-1line-1. Results: Significant variation was observed for all traits like., number of flowers corm-1 line-1 (4.00-35.33), fresh pistil weight (104.84- 1207.38 mg), stigma length (2.55-4.18 cm), leaf length (16.12-37.10 cm), number of leaves corm-1 line-1 (6.00-11.33), fresh flower weight corm-1 line-1 (1.80-14.31 mg) indicating presence of high level of variability in germplasm.

Conclusion: The estimates of phenotypic variation were higher than equivalent estimates of genotypic variation except few traits indicating major impact of environment towards expression of a trait. Our findings contributes better understanding of genetic variation in saffron for both vegetative and yield attributes and indicates high level of variability in germplasm, therefore imply considerable scope for saffron improvement through clonal selection.