International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology

Vol-10, Issue-4; Jul-Aug, 2025

Peer-Reviewed International Journal
Journal Home Page Available: https://ijeab.com/
Journal DOI: 10.22161/ijeab

Corm and Cormlets characterization of Novel Hybrids of

Gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrida) in off-Season
Pritee Pinta 1, Dr. L. N. Mahawer2*, Dr. H. L. Bairwa2, Dr. S. Ramesh Babu3, Dr. Latika
Sharma4, Sunita Yadav1
1 M.Sc (Hort.) FLS, Department of Horticulture, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and
Technology, Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, India
2 Professor, Department of Horticulture, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology,

Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, India

3 Professor, Department of Entomology, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology,

Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, India

4 Professor, Department of Agriculture Economics, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and

Technology, Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, India.

*Corresponding author

Received: 02 Jun 2025; Received in revised form: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 06 Jun 2025; Available online: 13 Jul 2025
©2025 The Author(s). Published by Infogain Publication. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract— The present study was conducted during 2024-25 at the Horticulture Farm, Rajasthan College
of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur, to evaluate the performance of nine novel gladiolus hybrids under off-
season conditions. The study aimed to assess their corm production traits to identify superior genotypes
suitable for off-season cultivation. Significant variation was observed among the hybrids for all studied
parameters. Hybrid H5 ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar recorded highest corm diameter (3.94 cm), corm weight
(23.60 g), final corm weight (23.60g) While H6 ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari recorded highest corm / plant
(1.87) and cormlets / plant (5.93). Furthermore, hybrids H5 ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar and H8 ♀ GS-2 × ♂
Pricella demonstrated promising results for corm diameter and weight indicating potential for commercial
multiplication.
Keywords— Gladiolus, corms, hybrids, traits, cormlets.

I. INTRODUCTION France, Poland, Bulgaria, Brazil, Australia, and Israel are

Gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrida) commonly known as sword among the major gladiolus-producing countries.
lily belongs to Iridaceae family. It is indigenous to South
Africa and the area around the Jambisi River in the Cape. It II. MATERIAL METHOD
is a fragile perennial herbaceous plant which is grown from
At the Shed Net House Horticulture Farm, Rajasthan
seeds and corms for commercial use. Most South African
College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur, Rajasthan, a
species have a basic chromosomal number (X = 15) and are
field experiment was conducted. The experiment was
diploid (2n = 30). Gladiolus is a very appealing plant
carried out in 0.58 x 0.39 m 2 plastic crates with six corms /
because of its enormous, colorful florets, bright hues, and
plastic crate. The experimental design was laid completely
long-lasting spikes. It is a popular option for herbaceous
randomized design (CRD) with 9 treatments and 3
borders, beds, rock gardens, pots, and as a cut flower due to
replications. Th experimental unit situated at 24° 57' N
its produces lovely the inflorescence in a variety of hues.
latitude and 73° 70' E longitudes at an elevation of 573.8
After roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums, gladiolus
meters above mean sea level. The region falls under agro-
comes in at the fourth position in the global cut flower trade
climatic Zone IV A (Sub-humid Southern Plain and Aravali
(Ahmad et al., 2008). The United States, Netherlands, Italy,

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Pinta et al. Corm and Cormlets characterization of Novel Hybrids of Gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrida) in off-Season

Hills) of Rajasthan. The temperature ranges from 22.7°C to plant among the hybrids H1 - ♀ Punjab Beauty ×♂
34.7°C and relative humidity was maintained between 60 to Friendship, H4 - ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham were
90 (per cent). To conduct this experiment On August 13, statistically at par with H3 -♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha and
2024, the uniformly sized corms of the 9 novel hybrids were H4 - ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham. Similar results were
chosen and immersed in a solution of GA3@200 ppm for a shown by Swaroop (2010) in American beauty (3.33), Poon
whole day, to break the corms dormancy and kept in shade et al. (2010) and Kumar et al. (2011) where number of
for 2 hours. The nine novel hybrids treated 6corm of corms, with greater weight and size were observed. These
gladiolus were planted in media Soil: Sand: Vermicompost values reflect efficient energy partitioning and robust
(2:1:1v/v) at a depth of 3-5cm in plastic crates on 14 Aug below-ground development, essential for sustainable
2024 in shed net house. Further, the observation was cultivar production.
recorded from five randomly selected corms of each 3.2 Corm diameter (cm)
replication to assess the Corm and cormlets traits: Corms /
The observations recorded Corm diameter (cm) as
plant, Corm diameter (cm), Polar diameter (cm), Cormlets /
presented in Table 3.1. The highest corm diameter was
plant, Cormlets diameter (cm), Initial weight of corm (g),
recorded at hybrid H5- ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar (3.94 cm)
Final corm weight (g), Propagation coefficient (%).
followed by H3 - ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha (3.76 cm) and
Treatment details H8 - ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Pricella (3.73 cm) respectively. The lowest
S. No Treatments Treatment details corm diameter was observed at hybrid H2 -♀ Pusa Shubham
×♂ Arka Pratham (2.70 cm). Similar results were observed
1. H1 ♀ Punjab Beauty ×♂
by Kujur et al. (2016) for corm diameter (6.68 cm) was
Friendship
recorded in cv. Candyman and size. The accumulation of
2. H2 ♀ Pusa Shubham ×♂ Arka photosynthesis in this hybrid indicates effective assimilate
Pratham mobilization from leaves as source and sink as stems into
3. H3 ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha underground modified stem.
4. H4 ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham 3.3 Polar diameter (cm)
5. H5 ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar The observations recorded Polar diameter (cm) as
presented in Table 3.1. The largest polar diameter was
6. H6 ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari
recorded at hybrid H3 -♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha (2.67
7. H7 ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Punjab cm) followed by H5- ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar (2.55 cm) and
Glad2 H6 -♀ Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari (2.34cm) respectively. The
8. H8 ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Pricella smallest polar diameter was observed at hybrid H1- ♀
Punjab Beauty ×♂ Friendship (1.92 cm). According to
9. H9 ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-2
Azimi et al. (2020), Kirtimala et al. (2011) observed the
maximum corm diameter in Genotype Melody.
2.1 Statistical Analysis 3.4 Cormlets / plant
The data statistically analyzed by using Completely The observations recorded Cormlets per plant as
Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The presented in Table 3.1. The hybrid H6 -♀ Gunjan × ♂
level of significance was noticed at P = 0.05% to determine Dhanvantari recorded the maximum number of cormlets
the significant difference ((Cochran and Cox, 1950). plants-1 (5.93) followed by H9 - ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-2(5.27),
H7 -♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Punjab Glad-2 (5.13), H8 - ♀ GS-
2 × ♂ Pricella (5.13) while the minimum cormlets were
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
recorded at H5 - ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar (3.80). However,
Corms and Cormlets traits hybrid H7 -♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Punjab Glad-2 (5.13), H8 -
3.1 Corms per plant ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Pricella (5.13) were statistically at par with H9
The observations recorded Corms per plant as presented in - ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-2 (5.27) for cormlets produced plants-1.
Table 3.1. The maximum number of corms plant-1 was According to Priyanka et al. (2023), Nalage et al. (2019)
observed at hybrid H6 -♀ Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari (1.87) observed the maximum no. of cormlets per plants (138.87)
followed by H4 - ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham (1.47) and H1 were noticed in variety Phule Tejas.'Phule Prerana'.
- ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Friendship while the minimum 3.5 Cormlets diameter
corm/plant was recorded at H7 -♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ The observations recorded Cormlets diameter as presented
Punjab Glad2 (1.13) respectively. However, the corm per in Table 3.2 and Fig.3.1. Cormlets diameter was highest at

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Pinta et al. Corm and Cormlets characterization of Novel Hybrids of Gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrida) in off-Season

gladiolus hybrid H3-♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha (1.55 cm) 3.8. Propagation coefficient (%)
followed by H6 -♀ Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari (1.34cm), H1 - The observations recorded Propagation coefficient as
♀ Punjab Beauty ×♂ Friendship (1.20cm), while the lowest presented in Table 3.2.and Fig 3.1 The highest propagation
cormlets diameter was recorded at H9 - ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-2 coefficient was observed at hybrid H3- ♀ Punjab Beauty ×
(0.81cm), respectively. Similar results observed by Dhakal ♂ Praha (42.64%) followed H9- ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-2
et al. (2021) for cormlets diameter. (38.40%), H2- ♀ Pusa Shubham ×♂ Arka Pratham
3.6 Initial corm weight (g) (32.87%), H7- ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Punjab Glad-2
The observations recorded Initial weight of corm per (32.85%), respectively. However, lowest propagation
plant as presented in Table 3.2. and Fig.3.1.The highest coefficient was recorded at H4- ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham
initial weight of corm plant-1 was recorded at hybrids H5 - ♀ (22.54%).), Patel et al. (2022) emphasized that genotypic
GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar (19.07 g) followed by H8 - ♀ GS-2 × makeup plays a vital role in determining propagation traits
♂ Pricella (18.07 g), H4 - ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham and overall reproductive efficiency in gladiolus. Suggesting
(17.00g). However, the minimum initial weight corm plant - high reproductive efficiency and adaptability. These
1
was recorded at H2 - ♀ Pusa Shubham ×♂ Arka Pratham features are vital for breeders focusing on fast propagation
(13.47 g). According to Hossain et al. (2012) observed and commercial scaling.
highest weight of corms and size.
3.7 Final corm weight (g) IV. CONCLUSION
The observations recorded Final corm weight as It was concluded that the gladiolus hybrid H5 - ♀
presented in Table 3.2. and Fig 3.1.The hybrid H5 - ♀ GS-2 GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar had the highest corm diameter
× ♂ Arka Amar recorded the highest corm weight (23.60 g) (3.94cm), corm weight (23.60gm). The corm per plant
followed by H8 - ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Pricella (22.93g), H4 - ♀ (1.87), cormlets/ plant (5.93) recorded at hybrid H6- ♀
Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham (20.80g) while the lowest final Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari while the lowest corm/plant (1.20)
corm weight was observed at H2 -♀ Pusa Shubham ×♂ Arka and minimum corm weight (17.80g) were observed in
Pratham (17.80 g) respectively. However, significant final hybrid H2- ♀ Pusa Shubham ×♂ Arka Pratham,
corm weight among the hybrids H4 - ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka respectively. Hybrid H3 ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha
Pratham (20.80g), H7 -♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Punjab Glad-2 observed highest cormlets diameter (1.55 cm) and polar
(20.47g), H9 - ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-(20.27g) were statistically diameter (2.67 cm) while the highest propagation
at par with hybrid H5 - ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar, respectively. coefficient was observed at hybrid H3- ♀ Punjab Beauty ×
The accumulation of photosynthesis in this hybrid indicates ♂ Praha (42.64%), respectively. Under off-season protected
effective assimilate mobilization from leaves as source and culture, the discovered elite hybrids H5, H6, H3 exhibited
sink as stems into underground modified stem. Sankari et superior adaptability for corm production potential. These
al. (2012) observed highest weight of corms and size. This hybrids offer valuable genetic resources for enhancing
might be due to reason that no. of leaves was highest which gladiolus year-round availability, propagation efficiency
resulted in the production of more photosynthates in the and future breeding programs.
plant with transfer towards the roots.
Table. 3.1. Novel hybrids of Gladiolus hybrida influence on corms and cormlets traits under shed net house in off-season.
Hybrids Corms per plant Corms Polar diameter Cormlets per
diameter (cm) (cm) plant
H1- ♀ Punjab Beauty ×♂ Friendship 1.40 3.35 1.92 4.27
H2- ♀ Pusa Shubham ×♂ Arka Pratham 1.20 2.70 2.12 4.07
H3- ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha 1.33 3.76 2.67 4.80
H4- ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham 1.47 3.43 2.16 4.33
H5- ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar 1.40 3.94 2.55 3.80
H6- ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari 1.87 3.61 2.34 5.93
H7- ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Punjab Glad-2 1.13 3.52 2.21 5.13
H8- ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Pricella 1.20 3.73 2.12 5.13
H9- ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-2 1.33 3.53 2.15 5.27

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Pinta et al. Corm and Cormlets characterization of Novel Hybrids of Gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrida) in off-Season

SEM (±) 0.04 0.09 0.06 0.13

CD (P=0.05) 0.11 0.28 0.18 0.38
CV (%) 4.66 4.62 4.63 4.61

Table. 3.2. Novel hybrids of Gladiolus hybrida influence on corms and cormlets traits under shed net house in off-season.
Hybrids Cormlets Final corm Initial corm Propagation
diameter (cm) weight(g) weight (g) coefficient (%)
H1- ♀ Punjab Beauty ×♂ Friendship 1.20 18.47 14.67 25.94
H2- ♀ Pusa Shubham ×♂ Arka Pratham 0.97 17.80 13.47 32.87
H3- ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Praha 1.55 19.87 13.93 42.64
H4- ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Arka Pratham 0.97 20.80 17.00 22.54
H5- ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Arka Amar 1.07 23.60 19.07 24.33
H6- ♀ Gunjan × ♂ Dhanvantari 1.34 19.20 15.13 26.92
H7- ♀ Punjab Beauty × ♂ Punjab Glad-2 1.13 20.47 15.40 32.85
H8- ♀ GS-2 × ♂ Pricella 0.95 22.93 18.07 26.83
H9- ♀ Mohini × ♂ GS-2 0.81 20.27 14.67 38.40
SEM (±) 0.05 0.89 0.53 0.55
CD (P=0.05) 0.15 2.66 1.58 1.64
CV (%) 7.69 7.56 5.83 3.15

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
H1-Punjab H2-Pusa H3-Punjab H4-Gunjan H5-GS-2 × H6-Gunjan H7-Punjab H8-GS-2 × H9-Mohini
Beauty × Shubham × Beauty × × Arka Arka Amar × Beauty × Pricella × GS-2
Friendship Arka Praha Pratham Dhanvantari Punjab
Pratham Glad2

Final corm weight(gm) Initial weight of corm (g) Propagation coefficient (%)

Fig. 3.1. Gladiolus novel hybrid influence on final weight (g), initial corm weight (g), propagation coefficient (%) traits
under off-season.

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