Genetic diversity analysis of Brassica rapa germplasm collected from Uttarakhand hills

Abstract

Diversity among thirty Brassica rapa germplasm accessions was analysed through Mahalanobis’s D2 statistic. The accessions were evaluated in RBD with two replications along with three checks to identify genetically diverse accessions for the improvement of yield and other traits in Brassica rapa. Data was recorded on 8 characters viz., plant height, shoot length, siliqua length, beak length, number of siliqua, number of seeds per siliqua, siliqua density and grain yield per plant. All the germplasm accessions were grouped into nine clusters using Tocher’s method. Cluster I was largest containing 20 accessions followed by cluster II and III each with three germplasm accessions and cluster IV having two accessions. Highest intra-cluster distance was recorded for cluster IV followed by cluster III, cluster II and cluster I. Maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster VI and IV followed by cluster VII and V and cluster VIII and IX. Therefore, probability of obtaining useful segregants and promising recombinants is expected to be more by selecting genotypes from these clusters.