Author(s):

Ajeet Jaiswal, Vinod Singh, Kanhaiya Lal, Durga Prasad, Kuladeep Yadav and Vishwanath Pratap Yadav

Abstract: Present investigation was carried out to evaluate 90 indigenous lines of wheat with 4 check varieties for genetic variability and divergence. The characters studied were days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, tillers per plant, spike length, flag leaf area, peduncle length, 1000-grain weight, biological yield per plant, harvest index and grain yield per plant. The assessment of existing genetic variability and divergence in the indigenous collections was done by computing mean value of various characters. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences among all the genotypes for majority of the traits except tillers per plant, test weight and harvest index. The genotypes showed moderate to high level of genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV). The magnitudes of phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV) for all the characters were slightly higher than their corresponding genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV), indicated very less environmental influence on the expression of the characters. The maximum GCV was reported for flag leaf area (18.892), grain yield per plant (18.338), biology yield per plant (17.002) and peduncle length (15.789). This indicated that these characters can be utilized as selection criteria to achieve maximum yield. The 90 indigenous lines and 4 check varieties of wheat were grouped into 10 distinct clusters by using nonhierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis. It indicated the existence of high degree of genetic diversity present in the varieties/lines. Therefore, these varieties/lines may serve as valuable source for selection of diverse parents. Maximum intra-cluster distance was found for cluster-IX followed by cluster-IV, the minimum intra-cluster distance was recorded for cluster-VI followed by cluster-X. The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster-V and cluster-VIII followed by cluster-VIII and cluster-IX. The lowest inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster-II and cluster-III followed by cluster-I and cluster-III. Hence, crosses should be made between these widely related genotypes located in intra and inter cluster distances, to get desirable extinct of heterotic potential.

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