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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp5 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Morphological diversity, DUS characterisation and trait association analysis in Celosia cristata L. germplasm

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.15566
Submitted
14 May 2026
Published
13-09-2026

Abstract

Thirty-five accessions of Celosia cristata L. were evaluated for morphological diversity, genetic variability, floral traits and yield performance under field conditions at the Eastern Farm, Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Periyakulam. The experiment was laid out in a randomised block design (RBD) with 3 replications. Sixteen quantitative traits, along with qualitative distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) descriptors, were recorded for vegetative, flowering and yield parameters. Significant variability was observed among the accessions for all the characters studied. Days to first flowering ranged from  28 to 45 days, whereas flower yield varied from 7.48 to 28.49 t ha-1. High coefficient of variation was recorded for flowering branches, flower weight per plant and yield traits, indicating the presence of substantial exploitable variability and wider scope for selection. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive associations among floral and yield traits, suggesting the possibility of simultaneous improvement of flower quality and productivity through indirect selection. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped the accessions into distinct clusters, confirming the existence of wide genetic diversity among the germplasms. Principal component analysis showed that the first two principal components accounted for a major proportion of total variability, while hierarchical cluster analysis categorised the accessions into distinct groups based on morphological and yield traits. Heatmap analysis further confirmed the existence of wide phenotypic diversity among the evaluated accessions. Among the evaluated accessions, Accession 9 exhibited superior performance with early flowering, larger inflorescence size, higher number of flowers and maximum flower yield. The identified superior accessions hold promise as valuable genetic resources for future breeding programmes and commercial cultivation of C. cristata.

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