PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERISATION OF F1 HYBRIDS DERIVED FROM CROSS-BREEDING DOUBLE AND SINGLE PETUNIAS (PETUNIA HYBRIDA)

Part of the Solanaceae family, petunias possess a wide range of flower colors and patterns. In this study, we crossed two types of petunias i.e., the single blackberry (as a female parent) and double (male parent). Seeds obtained from this cross were grown and the phenotypic characters of 85 plants were analysed including the number of days of first flower emergence, flower diameter, peduncle length, number of flowers, number of branches, plant height, pollen color, number of petals (single or double flower), and petal color. Of particular interest is that the double flower inherited the F1 generation and recorded 54.1%, the single flower recorded 45.9%, and a wide range of flower colors were light pink to dark purple. It was noted that 67.1% of the plants had light purple pollens and 32.9% showed yellow colors. Based on the coefficient of variation (CV) and box plot analysis, the flower diameters showed more variability than other traits. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed distinct patterns and associations among phenotypic traits. PC1 primarily reflected several traits such as plant height, number of flowers, flower diameter, and single or double petunias. However, PC2 was predominantly influenced by pollen and petal color, stem length, number of days of first flower emergence and number of branches. Besides, data clustering analysis also identified distinct clusters based on phenotypic traits in the petunia population, which can be exploited for future breeding programs.