Morphological evaluation of some rose cultivars

Abstract

Investigation was carried out to study and compare the extent of morphological variability including vegetative and floral characters, pollen fertility status and disease tolerance of 50 rose cultivars. Majority of the cultivars were exotic and of recent origin. All the cultivars except ‘Careless Love’ had erect growth habit. Considerable variation was observed for plant height, average leaf area and density of thorns in different rose cultivars. Variability was also observed to exist for flower bud size, flower diameter, number of petals, petal length and petal breadth. Of the 50 cultivars, 14 had moderately fragrant flowers and cv. Fragrant hour was highly fragrant. The cvs. Ambassador and Ghazal had maximum and minimum stalk length. On estimating the pollen fertility using versatile stain, the cv. Ferry Porche had maximum whereas ‘Yankee Doodle’ had minimum pollen fertility percentage. It was also observed that 27 cultivars were highly susceptible to black spot and 34 cultivars were tolerant to powdery mildew. Based on the morphological evaluation of 50 rose cultivars, 9 were selected suitable for garden display, 7 each for cut flowers and exhibition purpose.