Genetic divergence studies for seed yield and component traits in brown sarson (Brassica campestris var. brown sarson) under northwestern Himalayas

Abstract

In order to assess the genetic diversity, an experiment was conducted with 26 brown sarson genotypes grown in randomized complete block design with three replications. The genotypes could be grouped into 6 clusters namely cluster I (5 genotypes), cluster II (11 genotypes), cluster III (5 genotypes), cluster IV (3 genotypes), cluster V (1 genotype) and cluster VI (1 genotype). This indicates that the genotypes grouped within a particular cluster are more or less genetically similar to each other and apparent wide diversity is mainly due to the remaining genotype distributed over rest of the other clusters. The maximum intra cluster distance exhibited for cluster III. Maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters IV and V followed by between clusters II and V and clusters IV and VI. Cluster II showed the highest number of siliquae per plant which suggested that the genotype falling in this cluster can be selected directly and used in hybridization programme. The genotypes falling under clusters III and V can be used as a source population for early flowering and better yield based upon cluster means.