CHARACTERIZATION OF CHRYSANTHEMUM CULTIVARS BASED ON THEIR MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS

Abstract

A research work was accomplished at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka from October, 2019 to April, 2020 for observing different morphological characteristics of chrysanthemum cultivars. Twenty five cultivars (V 1 -V 25 ) were used in this experiment following Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Data on growth and flowering attributes showed significant variation. Different morphological traits of chrysanthemum cultivars were recorded and categorized into 9 groups according to The National Chrysanthemum Society Classification, USA. All the cultivars (V 1 ) were also classified according to UPOV (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plant) classification and all the cultivars were also sorted into a wide color range according to The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Color Chart. Among the cultivars, V 2 (White snowball), V 3 II

-V 25 (Yellow snowball), V 4 (Purple snowball), V 16 (White chrysanthemum) and V 22 (Sunny yellow) had cut flower quality considering the characteristics of flower head size (7.3 to 15.7 cm), stalk length (13.4 to 20.5 cm), stalk diameter (3.5 to 6.5 mm) and visual color. Remaining cultivars like V 1 (Crimson tide), V 5 (Pink shasta daisy), V 6 (Dark pink daisy), V 7 (Rose pink), V 8 (Orange pompon), V 9

(Orange paper white), V 10

(Orange mum), V 11 (Scale mum), V 12 (Red mammoth), V 13 (Cream colored mum), V 14 (Ruby red), V 15 (Yellow spider mum), V 17 (Marigold chrysanthemum), V 18

(White anemone), V 19 (Magenta spray mum), V 24 (Paper white), V 20 (Yellow daisy), V 21 (Magenta spoon mum), V 25 (Red bronze), V 23 (Red-orange mum) were suitable for pot plant, filler in flower bouquet. In view of the overall performances, this findings show that some of the cultivars can be addition to our flower market and this study also give an insight for the breeder to pick up standard traits among the cultivars for further genetic improvement.