D2 analysis of rice germplasm for some quantitative and quality traits

An investigation was carried out with 41 rice genotypes to identify diverse genotypes. They were evaluated for nine yield and yield attributing characters using Mahalanobis D2 statistics. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters studied. Based on the genetic distance all the 41 genotypes were grouped under thirteen different clusters. The mode of distribution of genotypes from different eco-regions into various clusters was at random indicating that geographical diversity and genetic diversity were not related. The maximum inter-cluster distance was recorded between clusters III and XIII and the maximum intra-cluster distance was found in cluster XI followed by VI. The characters like number of grains per panicle, plant height, grain length and grain breadth contributed maximum towards genetic diversity. Hence these characters could be given due importance for selection of genotypes for further crop improvement programme.