Genetic diversity analysis for various morphological and quality traits in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) *

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out during rabi 2017-18 at Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura with 96 genotypes from CIMMYT to assess the genetic diversity for various yield traits and quality trait viz; number of tillers plant-1, ear length (cm), number of seeds spike-1, 1000-seed weight (g), plant height (cm), grain yield plant-1 (g), protein content (%), spikelets spike-1 and days to 75% flowering. The cluster analysis grouped 96 genotypes in 8 clusters which revealed that the Cluster I contained the highest number of genotypes (66) followed by Cluster III (23), Cluster VII (2) and other clusters were mono-genotypic. Among all clusters cluster-V and cluster-VIII showed the maximum cluster mean values for maximum number of traits, suggesting that these traits were superior over other traits and genotypes falling in this clusters would be selected directly on the basis of these traits and could be used in hybridization programme. The maximum contribution towards divergence was by grain yield plant-1, followed by 1000 seed weight (g), seeds spike-1, ear length (cm), spikelets spike-1, plant height (cm), days to 75% flowering therefore may be used as selection parameters.