Genetic divergence in turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) genotypes

Abstract

The genetic divergence among 200 turmeric genotypes was evaluated based on twenty five agro morphological traits. The experiment was conducted during 2017 - 2018 at the Department of spices and plantation crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. 200 turmeric genotypes were grouped into three clusters by using euclidean distance with wards method. Cluster III showed 91 genotypes, cluster II recorded 55 genotypes and Cluster I registered 54 genotypes. Based on principle component analysis, seven principle components PC1, PC2, PC3, PC4, PC5, PC6 and PC7 with an eigen values 8.43, 3.99, 1.99, 1.57, 1.22, 1.09 and 0.98 respectively, have accounted for 77.16 percentage of the total cumulative variability with 200 turmeric genotypes. The first two principle components PC1 and PC2 showed eigen values are more than one and percentage of cumulative variability 49.72 %. This is would be the essential steps to research facilitate and utilization of the genetic resources within the genotypes studied.