Estimation of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for high yield and tolerance to drought stress in marigold (Tagetes spp.) genotypes

Thirty-two genotypes of marigold were collected and estimated for their genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean under two treatments – 100% FC (control) and 50% FC (drought stress treatment) in a 32 x 2 factorial experiment under quadruplicate by completely randomized design. Based on the estimates of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean, results revealed that yield can be increased substantially through simple selection procedure based on characters such as plant height, number of flower per plant, number of branches per plant, shoot fresh and dry weight, root fresh and dry weight, root length, single flower weight, chlorophyll SPAD value at vegetative and flowering stages, stomatal conductance at vegetative and flowering stages and photosynthetic rate at vegetative and flowering stages due to the presence of additive type of gene action. Thus, these characters should be considered for selection and for development of drought tolerant and high yielding genotypes in a breeding programme of marigold.