Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
UK Singh, Kamalesh Bairwa, RK Mandal, Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Kumar

Abstract:
Genetic divergence assessed among 15 rice genotypes using Mahalanobis D² statistic. D² analysis differed significantly with regard to the character and distributed 15 genotypes into four clusters, of which cluster I was the largest comprising of 12 genotypes and Cluster II, Cluster III and Cluster IV had single genotype each. The pattern of distribution of genotypes from different eco-geographical region into various clusters was at random indicating that geographical diversity and genetic diversity were not related. Cluster I had maximum intra-cluster value of 206.52 and maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between the cluster III and IV (2197.20) followed by cluster I and III (819.96) indicating the importance of the genotypes present in these cluster on genetic divergence for quantitative characters. The genotypes IR-64 of cluster IV, IR-127299-32-2-2 of cluster III and genotype IR-127339-11-1-1-1-1 of cluster 1I are diverse in nature, Hence these genotypes are used as better parent in hybridization programme for direct seeded condition, likely to produced wide variability with desirable segregates. The characters viz. Number of grains panicle^-1, grain yield plant^-1, and 1000 grain weight (g), contributed maximum towards genetic divergence among the genotypes.