Growth and flowering response of tulip varieties under subtropical conditions of Punjab

A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of eight tulip (Tulipa gesneriana L) varieties, namely Royal Virgin, Christmas Dream, Tom Pouce, Strong Gold, Apeldoorn, Lalibela, Purple Prince and Attila Graffiti, in open-field under subtropical conditions of Punjab. Variety Royal Virgin took significantly less number of days to sprout (43.00 days) along with early flowering (77.22 days), followed by Christmas Dream and Lalibela taking (47.11, 81.00) and (49.22, 81.11) days, respectively. Lalibela had the highest sprouting percentage (100%), flowering percentage (100%), and blossom length (32.33 days), followed by Christmas Dream and Royal Virgin, respectively. Royal Virgin had the maximum leaves (4.22), and the largest flower diameter (7.75 cm). The highest values for plant height (35.00 cm) and scape length (30.89 cm) were observed in Lalibela. Further, the Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was performed and a dendrogram was constructed with three clusters. HCA supported our results as Royal Virgin, Christmas Dream and Lalibela were grouped in cluster I with minimum days to sprouting and flowering along with maximum sprouting and flowering percentage, flower duration, plant height, scape length, number of leaves and desirable bulb traits. Based on the overall performance, Royal Virgin, Christmas Dream and Lalibela varieties were found promising under agro-climactic conditions of Punjab.