Assessment of genetic parameters in exotic germplasm of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Sixty two rice genotypes were evaluated for seven quantitative traits to study genetic divergence by using Mahalanobis D² statistics and principal component analysis. These genotypes were grouped into 15 clusters. Higher inter cluster distance was observed between clusters XV and XI followed by clusters XV and VI. Grain yield and test weight contributed largely towards diversity as observed during D² analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified three components with the eigen values, more than one which contributed 84.89 percent of cumulative variance. Phenotypic coefficient of variation was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation. The traits grain yield per plant, test weight and filled grains per panicle showed moderate estimates of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent over mean was observed for filled grains per panicle followed by grain yield per plant and test weight.