Morphological Characterization of Cytoplasmic Male Sterile Lines with their Respective Maintainers in Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.)

Forty lines of cauliflower (Twenty CMS and their respective maintainers) were evaluated and analyzed for twenty-two morphological traits. The experimental results showed that maximum stalk length was observed in CMS line UHF-CAU-16A (15.86cm) and minimum stalk length was observed in line UHF-CAU-4A (4.22cm). While among the maintainer lines maximum stalk length was observed in UHF-CAU-16B (17.46cm) and minimum stalk length was observed in lines UHF-CAU-5B and UHF-CAU-10B (10.00cm). Days to curd initiation was found to be maximum (130 days) in CMS lines (UHF-CAU-9A, UHF-CAU-10A, UHF- CAU-17A and UHF-CAU-20A) and minimum in lines UHF-CAU-1A, UHF-CAU-2A, UHF-CAU-4A, UHF-CAU-7A, UHF-CAU-12A, UHF-CAU-15A and UHF-CAU-18A (100 days). Whereas in the maintainer line the days to curd initiation was significantly higher (131.04 days) in line UHF-CAU-20B and minimum (99.80 days) in line UHF-CAU- 4B. CMS line UHF-CAU-13A (13.50 cm) recorded maximum curd polar diameter and maintainer line, UHF-CAU-13B (14.86 cm) recorded significantly higher curd polar diameter. Curd equatorial diameter was found to be maximum (19.80 cm) in CMS line UHF-CAU-16A. Whereas, among the maintainer lines, the curd equatorial diameter was significantly higher (21.40cm) in line UHF-CAU-13B. Further analysis of the lines by paired t-test showed significant differences between the CMS lines and their respective maintainer pair in terms of different morphological traits, providing evidence to the negative effects caused by the male sterile cytoplasm in the cytoplasmic male sterile lines of cauliflower.