Assessment of genetic diversity in newly developed inbred lines of maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

An investigation was carried out to assess the genetic diversity of 100 newly developed inbred lines of maize using Mahalanobis D2 statistics, indicated presence of considerable diversity. The data was recorded on ten quantitative characters. The inbred lines were grouped into 14 clusters based on Mahalanobis D2 statistic. Among them cluster I accommodated maximum number of inbred lines (31) followed by cluster III (24). Presence of nine solitary clusters indicated larger genetic diversity of inbred lines. The maximum inter cluster distance observed between cluster VI and IX followed by cluster VI and X suggesting greater variability in genetic makeup of inbred lines included in these clusters. The quantitative characters viz., plant height, ear height, shelling percentage and kernels per row contributed maximum towards diversity. Based on cluster distance inbred lines included in cluster VI, IX and X are advisable to used as parents for hybridization programme.

Keywords

• maize
• inbred lines
• genetic diversity
• d2 analysis