Vol. 10, Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
Sayed Azrah Indrabi, Ajaz A Malik, Geetika Malik, K Hussain, Sumati Narayan, Ambreen Nabi, Afroza Akhter, Amreena Sultan and Insha Javeed

Abstract:
A study on genetic diversity was conducted with forty-eight chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) genotypes which were collected from different agro ecological regions of India. Fourteen quantitative characters were taken into consideration. Mahalanobis D² statistics was employed to study genetic divergence among 48 genotypes and they were grouped into thirteen clusters on the basis of relative magnitude of D² values using Euclidean method. Cluster I accommodated maximum number (30) of genotypes followed by cluster V (7) and cluster II, III, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII (each one). The inter cluster distance D² values was highest between cluster II and IX (13956.99) followed by XIII and XI (10595.24) and cluster X and XI (10183.48). The intra cluster distance ranged from 0.00 (cluster II) to 691.01 (cluster I). The members of cluster I exhibited maximum divergence (intra cluster distance 691.01) followed by members of cluster V (474.76). The inter cluster distance were larger than the intra cluster distances indicating a wider genetic diversity between genotypes of cluster with respect to traits considered. Maximum inter-cluster distance indicates that genotypes falling in these clusters had wide diversity and can be used for hybridization programme to get better recombinants in the segregating generation.