Studies on genetic divergence in rice germplasm (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Genetic divergence of 50 rice genotypes was studied for thirteen quantitative plant growth and yield related traits was estimated using Mahalanobis’s statistics (D2) analysis. The genotypes were grouped into 8 clusters. The cluster VII was the largest with 12 genotypes followed by cluster III with 8 genotypes, cluster V & VI with 7 genotypes each, while cluster I & IV with 6 genotypes each, cluster VIII with 3 genotypes and cluster II with 1 genotype of rice. The inter cluster distances were higher than the average intra-cluster distance reflecting wider genetic diversity among the genotypes of different groups than those of the same cluster. The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster V & VI1 whereas the highest intra-cluster distance was found in the cluster VI indicated that the highly divergent types existed in these clusters. This study concluded that the genotypes UR-28 followed by UR-3 and DRR-11 were the best genotypes for grain yield as for as characters concerned for harvest index, no. of spikelet per panicle, no. of tillers per plant. The present study registered high GCV along with high genetic advance for no. of panicles per plant, no. of tillers per plant. So these genotypes with grain yield traits should be given top priority during selection of the genetically divergent parents for further utilization as parents in breeding programme.