Genetic diversity analysis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes grown under drought stress condition

Abstract

Genetic diversity study was conducted in 32 chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes using Mahalanobis D2 Statistics. Based on D2 values, 32 genotypes were grouped into eight clusters. The cluster III consisted of maximum 9 genotypes, followed by Cluster II, cluster I and cluster IV, which had 8, 7 and 4 genotypes, respectively. Inter cluster values varied from 3.27 to 11.60. The maximum inter cluster distance was recorded between cluster IV and VI (11.60). Characters 100 seed weight (58.67%), days to maturity (13.91%) and days to 50% flowering (13.10) contributed maximum towards diversity. On the basis of cluster mean values, cluster IV was superior for 100 seed weight and seed yield per plant. The genotypes belonging to the clusters separated by high genetic distance could be used in hybridization programme for obtaining a wide spectrum of variation among the segregants.