GENETIC DIVERSITY ANALYSIS IN FEW GENOTYPES OF RICE FOR YIELD AND ITS COMPONENT TRAITS

Twenty-one genotypes of rice were evaluated in Randomised block design with three replications during Kharif season of 2015. Observations recorded for characters like days to 50% flowering, Chl-a (mg/kg), Chl-b (mg/kg), Chl a/b, Plant Height (cm), No of tillers, No of effective tillers, 1000 seed weight, number of filled grains, floret Steriity (%), Dry weight (g) and Seed yield (g).Twenty-one genotypes were grouped into seven clusters, according to depicted distances among the genotypes based on D2 values. Among the all seven clusters, maximum genotypes present in Cluster-IV, possessing six genotypes followed by cluster-I, which had five genotypes and the remaining clusters had two genotypes each. According to D2 values, highest inter cluster distances were witnessed between cluster-III and cluster-V (18248.23), followed by cluster III and VII (11764.44), cluster V and VI (104.22.98). Lowest inter cluster distances were observed between cluster-II and cluster-VI (856.26), signifying close relationship among the genotypes of this group. During hybridization programmes, parents from distant clusters should be selected and maximum should be given to characters like number of grains per panicle, seed yield, 1000 grain weight, floret fertility and number of tillers per plant which together contributed more than 89% towards divergence