Deciphering Genetic Diversity in Advanced Wheat Lines (Triticum aestivum L.) for Yield and Other Yield Contributing Traits Across the Locations

Abstract

Twenty advanced wheat genotypes were evaluated for yield and yield-contributing traits in six field trials over two cropping seasons (Rabi 2020-21 and 2021-22) using a completely randomized block design (RBD) at two locations: the N.E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre (NEBCRC), G.B.P.U.A&T, Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar district, and the Agriculture Research Center Majhera, Nainital, Uttarakhand. The study aimed to assess genetic diversity among the genotypes via principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis, offering insights into genetic variations. Three clusters were formed, with the maximum number of genotypes occurring in the second cluster. A lower p-value indicates that the clusters are statistically significant, suggesting that the observed diversity is not random. High estimates of cophenetic distance (.79) specify a high genetic distance between clusters, indicating that diverse genetic material is under study. The maximum genetic distance observed was 144.9 between genotypes G5 and G11. These findings suggest that these two genotypes are the most genetically diverse among all the studied genotypes and can be used as parents to develop high genetic variation in the studied traits. The PCA results yielded 18 principal components, with the first seven components accounting for approximately 83% of the total variance, indicating significant genetic diversity. The scree plot affirmed the robustness of the study’s results by suggesting that the first eight principal components accounted for a substantial portion of the variance.The findings of current study could be exploited in planning and execution of future breeding programme in wheat.