Vol. 12, Issue 10 (2023)

Author(s):
Nancy Lego, Rupinder Kaur, Renu Khanna, KS Thind and Kabom Lego

Abstract:
The presence of genetic diversity is crucial for making genetic gains in any breeding program and its assessment is even more important in rice hybrid breeding to realize maximum heterosis. To evaluate genetic diversity among a set of 84 rice accessions, the experiment was conducted in an augmented block design with eight blocks and three checks. Based on divergence analysis the genotypes were grouped into ten clusters comprising 7, 18, 15, 19, 2, 5, 10, 6, 1, and 1 genotypes, respectively. Clusters V and X were found to be the most distant meaning genetically diverse from each other followed by clusters V and IX. Cluster I showed the highest mean performance for grain yield per plot, whereas cluster X performed best for effective bearing tillers (EBT/ m²). For days to 50% flowering clusters IX and X showed the lowest and highest mean performance respectively. The results from this study show large potential for increasing genetic gains by combining the desired variation that is present in different diverse groups of genotypes. Additionally, cluster means for yield/plot and EBT, and the inter-cluster distances between IX and X, suggest that the genotypes constituted in these clusters may be used as parents in the future hybridization program. Observed genetic diversity among the rice genotypes indicates the potential for exploitation in the cultivar and hybrid development and thus selection of clusters based on means could be helpful for selecting parents to be used in hybridization in order to combine the desirable yield contributing traits and recover the transgressive segregants with high yield potential.