Genetic divergence study through D2 analysis in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millspaugh)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2017 for study of genetic diversity in 45 different genotypes of pigeonpea using D2 statistics method of Mahalanobis. The forty five genotypes of pigeonpea were grouped into nine clusters which indicated the presence of diversity for different traits. The maximum number of diverse genotypes (35 genotypes) appeared in cluster I followed by cluster II (3 genotypes), cluster III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX with one genotypes. The maximum intra-cluster distance was recorded within cluster I (D=8.16) and the maximum inter cluster distance was observed between II and XI (D=34.47), indicating the existence of wide genetic variability. Based on mean performances, cluster III and cluster V found superior for yield and yield contributing characters. Therefore genotypes selected for hybridization among the above said clusters would produce high heterosis and segregant for more than one economic character.