Genetic diversity studies in moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) based on pod quality traits

Abstract

Thirty moringa genotypes were evaluated in randomized block design with two replications at Dr. YSRHU- Horticultural Research Station, Darsi, Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh during December 2023-June 2024. A wide range of variation was observed among the characters studied. Genetic divergence analysis was carried out using Mahalanobis D2 statistics and the 30 moringa genotypes were grouped into seven clusters based on pod qualitative characters. Among the seven clusters cluster I was the largest with 13 genotypes followed by cluster III comprising of 7 genotypes, cluster IV comprising of 6 genotypes, while cluster II, cluster V, cluster VI and cluster VII had single genotypes. The highest intra cluster distance was observed in cluster III followed by cluster I. The average inter-cluster D2 value was highest between IV and V followed by IV and VII, which may be used for hybridization programme for obtaining a broad spectrum of variability for transgressive segregants for the genetic improvement of moringa.