Vol. 12, Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
Divya Vani Vaka, Sakthivel T, Madhavi M, Karunakaran G, Shivashankara KS and Lakshman Reddy DC

Abstract:
Diversity studies were carried out among 52 avocado accessions using Mahalanobis D² statistics and principal component analysis. Based on D² analysis avocado accessions were grouped into six clusters. Cluster I consisted of 2 accessions, cluster II had 18 accessions, cluster III had 17 accessions while cluster IV, V and VI consisted of three, eight and four accessions respectively. The study showed 13 principal components that account for 77% of the total diversity in qualitative characteristics across accessions. Crop improvement is likely to result from choosing genotypes from divergent clusters and using them in hybridization programmes.