Vol. 10, Issue 3 (2021)

Author(s):
Suman Parre and Rajesh S Patil

Abstract:
To inquest the genetic divergence for yield attributing traits among selected F₂ (F₃) populations of intra-hirsutum cotton hybrids, an appraisal was conducted encompassing 86 lines of the F₃ population. The experiment was comprehended with progeny rows in the F₃ population with five checks, laid out in augmented design. Compilation of data and its analysis depicted that there is significant variation among the different genotypes for the different characters studied. Mahalanobis D² - statistic was used for assessing the genetic divergence among the F₃ segregants lines of the experiment. D² values were clustered using Tocher's method Genotypes were grouped onto 9 clusters. Cluster I (53) contain the maximum number of genotypes followed by cluster II (19) and cluster III (8). The remaining clusters depicted that they were solitary. Among the cluster distances inter-cluster distances were wide-ranging when compared to intracluster distances stipulating that there was wider genetic diversity. The maximum inter-cluster distance was between the clusters VIII and IX and the minimum between VI and VII. Plant height, number of seeds per boll number of nodes per plant and number of seeds per boll had contributed much for divergence. The genetic diversity results have shown that clusters VI, VII, VIII and IX can be crossed for isolating promising segregants or can be further advanced to the next generation for the development of suitable inbred lines.