Morphological traits and genetic parameters of Hippeastrum hybridum

Abstract

Amaryllis is a bulbous flowering plant that has attracted many florists in Iran in recent years. The present study aimed to explore genetic diversity and quantitative and qualitative yield of imported cultivars and promising genotypes of amaryllis. The research used 16 genotypes based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the Ornamental Plants Research Center in Iran (2017-2018). Based on the guideline of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 17 major traits were selected to assess the genotypes. The differences in genotypes showed a wide diversity in all traits among them. The highest general heritability was observed in flowering period (93.86%) and leaf length (91.24%) and the lowest in the number of florets per branch (20.37%). Overall, most traits had high heritability. The highest number of flowering branches, flowering period, floret length, stalk diameter, leaf number, and leaf length were obtained from ‘Moscow’. The highest peduncle length, floret width, and flowering period were observed in the promising genotype ‘OPRC-202’. The flower form was double in ‘Cherry Nymph’, ‘Dancing Queen’, and ‘OPRC-204’, miniature in ‘Baby Star’, and simple (single-flower) in the other genotypes. Based on the results, the promising genotypes ‘OPRC-202’ and ‘OPRC-204’ have a high potential to be introduced as new competitive cultivars in domestic and international markets. The promising genotypes and cultivars were categorized in four groups. The results showed that major of the diversity in the traits was due to genetic factors and the effect of the environment on these traits was less.