Genetic diversity studies in newly developed maize inbreds

Abstract

Forty nine inbred lines of maize were evaluated for 14 parameters at the experimental field of Agricultural Research Station (ARS), Peddapuram, Andhra Pradesh, during 2018-19 to study the genetic divergence using multivariate analysis. The analysis indicated considerable genetic divergence among the 49 genotypes studied. D2 analysis grouped the 49 maize genotypes into nine distinct clusters. Among those, cluster I was largest with 24 genotypes, while clusters IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX are smallest with single genotype in each. The intra-cluster distances in all the nine clusters were more or less low, indicating that the genotypes within the same cluster were closely related. The maximum inter cluster distance was observed between clusters II (KDML-115, PDML 15, VM 51, ADL 1619, PDML7470, CAL 1784, CAL 17834, VM 45, AL8127) and cluster VIII (CML 1505) indicating presence of maximum diversity among the genotypes falling within these clusters. Hence, the crosses VM51 × CML1505 is expected to result in heterotic hybrids and transgressive segregants.