Multivariate analysis of phenotypic diversity of rice (Oryza sativa) germplasm in North-West India

Abstract

Genetic diversity of 2142 accessions of rice (Oryza sativa L.) from India based on the multivariate analysis for 10 agro-morphological traits was evaluated using augmented experimental design at CSSRI, Karnal, Haryana, in kharif 2010-11. In all, a total of 8 clusters were obtained based on the estimates of genetic diversity using the UPGMA. On the basis of their greater intercluster distance, high value of cluster mean according to the character to be improved and performance of the individual germplasms for the character, the germplasms could be used in hybridization programme for improvement of different plant characters in the rice germplasms. The results of PCA revealed that the first three principal components explained 40.12% of the total variation thus suggesting that traits such as plant height, days to flowering and maturity, number of effective tillers and grain size (weight, length and width) were the principal discriminatory characteristics. It is suggested that the genetic variation existing in the evaluated germplasm set can be usefully utilized in efforts towards genetic improvement of rice.