Vol. 10, Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Mayuri V Pawar, Muralidhar S Kamble, Bhagyashri R Bhosale and Sampada S Bhopale

Abstract:
The present investigation was undertaken with the objectives, to estimate the genetic divergence between different genotypes and to group different genotypes into suitable cluster. Genetic divergence was assessed among 30 germplasm lines of lentil collected from Gadhinglaj, Ajara and Chandgad tahsils of Kolhapur district using Mahalonobis’s D² analysis. Presence of diversity pave way for exploitation of genotypes in breeding programme intended to improve yield and yield attributing traits. Genotypes from different geographical locations have been observed in same cluster and vice versa indicating that clustering of populations does not follow their geographic or location distribution. The 30 genotypes of lentil were grouped into 7 clusters. Cluster II was found to be the largest comprising 14 genotypes, followed by cluster III having 5 genotypes. Clusters IV and VII had single genotypes each. The intra cluster distance was observed to be highest for cluster VI thereby indicating greater genetic divergence between genotypes belonging to this cluster. The maximum inter cluster distance was observed in cluster IV and VII followed by cluster IV and VI. Thus, hybridization among these cluster pairs is recommended for getting high transgressive segregants in F₂ population. The characters number of secondary branches per plant, seed yield per plant, 100 seed weight and number of pods per plant contributed more towards divergence.