Multivariate Cluster and Principle Component Analyses of Selected Yield Traits in Uzbek Bread Wheat Cultivars

Abstract

Investigation of genetic diversity of geographically distant wheat genotypes is a useful approach in wheat breeding providing efficient crop varieties. This article presents multivariate cluster and principal component analyses (PCA) of some yield traits of wheat, such as thousand-kernel weight (TKW), grain number, grain yield and plant height. Based on the results, an evaluation of economically valuable attributes by eigenvalues made it possible to determine the components that significantly contribute to the yield of common wheat genotypes. Twenty-five genotypes were grouped into four clusters on the basis of average linkage. The PCA showed four principal components (PC) with eigenvalues > 1, explaining approximately 90.8% of the total variability. According to PC analysis, the variance in the eigenvalues was the greatest (4.33) for PC-1, PC-2 (1.86) and PC-3 (1.01). The cluster analysis revealed the classification of 25 accessions into four diverse groups. Averages, standard deviations and variances for clusters based on morpho-physiological traits showed that the maximum average values for grain yield (742.2), biomass (1756.7), grains square meter (18,373.7), and grains per spike (45.3) were higher in cluster C compared to other clusters. Cluster D exhibited the maximum thousand-kernel weight (TKW) (46.6).