Vol. 12, Issue 6 (2023)

Author(s):
G Binolin, D Wilson, Umesh Chimmalagi, P Dinesh Kumar, Sathiyavarsha, VK Yadhuraj, K Indira Petchiammal and Ramesh Kumar

Abstract:
A genetic divergence study on 24 chilli genotypes (Capsicum annuum L.) were conducted under protected condition in polyhouse at the North Instructional Farm of the School of Agricultural sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore. The variation among the genotypes for different traits were estimated by Anova. Mahalanobis D2 distance was used to estimate the genetic distance between the genotypes. The genotypes were grouped into six clusters. Among the six clusters, cluster I, II and VI had seven genotypes each and the clusters III, IV and V had one genotype each. The maximum inter cluster distance was found between cluster IV and cluster V (44.68) and the minimum inter cluster distance was found between cluster IV and cluster VI (38.78). The maximum intra cluster distance was found in cluster II (36.35) and minimum intra cluster distance was found in cluster VI (30.74). Jwala chilli in cluster V had the maximum capsaicin content, Fat chilli in cluster IV had the maximum dry fruit yield per plant and Long chilli in cluster III had the maximum green fruit yield per plant. Selection of these genotypes as parents for hybridization will be more effective for the improvement of related characters having superiority. One of the most important applications of divergence analysis is the selection of parents for hybridization to produce superior hybrids. In the recombination breeding approach selection of genetically distant parents also facilitate isolation of transgressive segregants.