Genetic divergence and cluster analysis in chaulai (Amaranthus viridis L.)

Abstract

The present investigation entitled “Evaluation and characterization of leafy vegetables (Amaranthus spp.) grown in Chhattisgarh.” was conducted during the year 2014-15 and 2015-16 at Research and Instructional Farm, Department of Horticulture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.). The experiment I was conducted during Rabi Season and experiment II was conducted during Kharif Season. The experiment was comprised of twenty three genotypes of chaulai (Amaranthus viridis L.). laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The data were analyzed to work out the genetic variability, correlation coefficient, path analysis and genetic divergence for the character viz., plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf breadth, petiole length, number of branch per plant, stem girth, fresh leaf weight, dry matter percentage of plant, harvest index %, test weight, yield kg per plot, yield tonne ha-1, seed yield tonne ha-1, duration of crop and fibre content %. The distributing pattern indicated that the maximum number of genotypes (7) was included in cluster (I) followed by cluster II, cluster III contains (6) genotypes, while cluster IV contains minimum (4) genotypes. The pooled analysis of data shows that the maximum number of genotypes were grouped into cluster II (IGCB-2014-31, IGCB-2014-32, IGCB-2014-33, IGCB-2014-34, IGCB-2014-35, IGCB-2014-36 and IGCB-2014-37) included seven genotypes, were highly divergent from all other genotypes and may be used as parents in transgenic breeding programme and may directly be used as a pure line variety for yield and it’s component characters in chaulai for Chhattisgarh plain condition. Hence, germplasm/genotypes collected from different districts of Chhattisgarh were evaluated in two consecutive years