Genetic diversity analysis in elite rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm using agro-morphological traits

Abstract

Thirty two genotypes of rice were evaluated to assess the genetic divergence. The data were recorded for 13 quantitative characters. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences for all the characters under study. Based on relative magnitude of D2 values, the genotypes were grouped into seven clusters. Cluster II constituted maximum number of genotypes with 15 genotypes. Maximum inter-cluster distance (D2) was observed between cluster VII and III, followed by cluster VII and IV, suggesting that the genotypes from these clusters can be selected to yield superior segregants and further genetic improvement. Maximum genetic divergence was exhibited by days to maturity (49.19%) followed by plant height (17.54%), spikelets per panicle (16.33%) and biological yield (11.29%).Therefore, days to maturity, plant height, spikelets per panicle and biological yield contributing to 83.06% of the total divergence need to be focused in selection of parents for hybridization programme.