Genetic diversity study through K-Means clustering in germplasm accessions of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

To identify potential genotypes for location specific breeding programmes of Andhra Pradesh, genetic diversity among 537 chickpea germplasm accessions was assessed for yield attributing traits during rabi 2020-21 at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh. K-means clustering was utilised to ascertain genetic distances among 537 chickpea germplasm accessions which were grouped into 12 different clusters. Cluster I was the biggest and had the most genotypes (73), followed by clusters XII (66), VII (60), XI (58), X (49), V & VII (43), III (40), IV (36), II (27), IX (22) and VI (20). Clusters IV and IX, as well as clusters VI and VII, were the most divergent, with the maximum inter-cluster distances. The germplasm accessions viz., NBeG- 169, RVSSG-40, CP 117-5-23 and ICCV 07101 were identified with high per se performance from diverse clusters IV, IX, VI, and VII for inclusion as parents in a hybridization program to achieve desirable transgressive segregants.

Keywords

• chickpea
• cluster
• genetic diversity and k-means clustering