Influence of plant morphology on root yield in Safed Musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum) to identify morphological marker traits

Abstract

The study was performed in order to assess the influence of plant morphology on root yield and its attributingtraits in Safed Musli. Twenty seven germplasm lines of Chlorophytum borivilianum were characterized for4 morphological features (plant architecture, flowering nature, leaf margin and canopy shape), 7 yield attributingtraits (canopy spread, leaf width, leaf length, number of leaves/ plant, number of roots/ plant, root length androot diameter) and root yield/ plant. Based on morphology the genotypes were grouped into differentmorphotype pairs and compared using ‘t’ test. Genotypes with flowering ability showed significantly highermean values for canopy spread and leaf length that are significantly correlated with root yield. So floweringnature can be utilized as morphological marker for large-scale screening of germplasm lines for yield in SafedMusli.

Keywords

• Safed Musli
• Chlorophytum borivilianum
• morphological marker
• indirect selection.