Genetic variability, correlation and cluster analysis in elite lines of rice

Abstract

Development of rice cultivars with appreciative performance is one of the prime objectives of rice breeding programs. The aims of the study were to generate scientific information on nature and magnitude of genetic variability and relationship of yield and related attributes and to classify genotypes into distinct clusters on the basis of quantitative traits. Fourteen elite rice genotypes were evaluated under RCB. There was significant (P ≤ 0.01) differences for all studied traits, except physiological maturity. The magnitudes of PCV and GCV were higher (>20%) in all the studied traits, except physiological maturity, reflecting wide spectrum of variability and offering greater opportunities for selection. Similarly, the magnitude of broad-sense heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean was moderate to high for majority of traits, indicating additive gene action in their inheritance hence, amenable for simple selection. Correlation analysis revealed that paddy yield manifested significantly positive correlation with physiological maturity (r = 0.46**) and negative correlation with 1000-grain weight (r = -0.30*). The dendrogram grouped 14 into four clusters. Cluster IV incorporated the highest number of genotypes, which also had highest cluster mean for paddy yield. Therefore, prominence should be given to genotypes aggregated in cluster IV that having high yield potentiality. Based on mean performance, Irrigated-04, E-93, E-94 and E-107 showed superiority in respect of paddy yield and some other traits, hence these lines could be recommended for varietal development