Genetic diversity study in interspecific inbreds of Sunflower

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted by using fifty eight interspecific inbreds and two checks (PKVSF-9 and TAS-82) of sunflower in randomized block design in kharif 2013 at the field of Oilseeds Research Unit, Dr. PDKV, Akola to estimate the genetic diversity among genotypes. Mahalanobis D2 statistics revealed presence of substantial genetic diversity among the genotypes. Among the ten characters studied, plant height (26.33%) followed by seed yield per plant (25.14%) and head diameter (18.87%) contributed maximum towards total genetic divergence while the characters seed filling percentage (0.34%) followed by harvest index (0.62%), 100 seed weight (2.32%) and oil content (2.99%) contributed least to the total genetic divergence. The genotypes were grouped in six clusters. Maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster II and VI (708.23) followed by cluster II and V (423.28) and cluster II and IV (363.57). Inter cluster distance was minimum between cluster III and IV (84.37). Cluster IV recorded highest intra cluster distance (91.71) followed by cluster I (77.47).

Keywords

• genetic diversity
• interspecific inbred
• sunflower