Genetic diversity for yield and its component traits in pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.)

B K Athoni, I Boodi, S K Pattanashetti, A K Guggari, 'Genetic diversity for yield and its component traits in pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.)', International Journal of Science and Nature, vol. 7(4), pp.795-798, Society For Science and Nature (SFSN), 2018

Pearlmillet is an important cereal crop of the semi arid-tropical region. As a result the crop productivity is challenged inmost cultivable regions. In order to enhance the productivity in dry regions, breeders need access to diverse material intheir breeding programmes. In the present study, an attempt was made to assess the genetic divergence among the 243germplasm lines using Mahalanobis D² statistic. Based on the genetic distance (D2 value), the 243 genotypes were groupedinto 16 different clusters indicating diverse nature of material studied. Cluster I was the largest with 129 genotypesfollowed by cluster III (49 genotypes) and cluster V (24 genotypes) while clusters II and VI, VII, VIII and X to XVI weresolitary indicating the grouping of exotic collections in definite groups. Among the various characters, seed yield(27.45%), panicle girth (18.16 %), leaf length (12.20 %) contributed maximum towards the divergence. Cluster IX (9genotypes) showed the maximum mean value for seed yield. The intra and inter cluster divergence among the genotypeswere varying in magnitude. The intra-cluster distance was maximum in cluster IX followed by clusters IV and V. Thewidest inter cluster distance was noted between cluster V and XVI giving scope for hybridization programme forimprovement of Pearl millet genotypes. The distance between clusters II and V was minimal indicating close relationshipbetween those clusters