Vol. 10, Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Kulkarni Chaitra C, Manikanta DS and Cholin Sarvamangala S

Abstract:
Carrot crop improvement depends on extent of genetic diversity in the asiatic and western gene pool. The nature and magnitude of genetic divergence in ninety-six indigenous temperate and tropical region adapted accessions of carrot (Daucus carota L.) was assessed for 18 quantitative traits using Mahalanobis D² analysis. Interestingly, five plants vegetative weight (g) (63.2%), followed by five plants root weight (33.57%), had higher contribution to the diversity among the selected genotypes. Tocher's method of cluster analysis grouped all the cultivars into twelve distinct clusters. The inter cluster distance was found to be highest between cluster X and XII (671114.10), followed by cluster I and XII (456310.80), Mean value for carrot root quality traits, like root length was highest in cluster II. Root weight was maximum for cluster XII. Whereas, cluster I recorded the highest root diameter and cluster X showed the highest mean value for TSS. Knowledge on extent of genetic divergence for different traits among these clusters would help the breeders for planning sound breeding programs.