Genetic divergence study in rice (Oryza sativa L.) Using cluster analysis and principal component analysis

Abstract

The study was undertaken to assess the genetic diversity among the non-parental type rice genotypes using hierarchical cluster analysis. Cluster analysis, based on all the studied traits, divided the genotypes into 3 clusters. Among the 3 clusters, cluster III consisted of maximum number of genotypes (19) followed by cluster II (11) and cluster I (11).A comparison of the mean values of three clusters for 9 characters revealed considerable differences in cluster mean values for all the characters studied. The present study revealed that cluster I had highest mean values for grain yield ( 1.903), flag leaf length (1.397) and panicle length(1.349) and lowest mean values for flag leaf width (-0.385) and days to flowering (-1.959). Cluster II had highest mean values for days to flowering (0.109) and 1000 grain weight (0.074) and lowest mean values for characters like tiller number(-0.392) and grain yield (-0.314). Cluster III showed highest mean values for characters like flag leaf width (3.597) and tiller number(1.911) and lowest mean values for characters like flag leaf length (-0.674) and days to flowering (-0.375). None of the clusters contained genotypes with all the desirable traits which could be directly selected and utilized. The relationship between different genotype of different cluster is important for further breeding programme.