Assessment of genetic diversity in ricebean germplasm for yield traits

Genetic diversity was studied in 40 ricebean germlasm accessions collected mostlyfrom the different parts of NW Himalayas using Mahalanobis's D² statistics. In the present investigation with non-hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis, 40 genotypes of ricebean were grouped into two clusters. While cluster II contained only one genotype i.e PRR-2007-2, all other genotypes were grouped into cluster I. The maximum contribution towards the genetic divergence was exhibited by pods/cluster (19.10%) followed by plant height (15.77%), seed yield/plant (15.00%) and days to flowering (15%). Lowest contribution towards the genetic divergence was exhibited by seeds per pod (0.13%). Cluster distance observed for cluster II was 10.36 followed by cluster I which was 3.23. Cluster 1 showed maximum cluster mean values for all characters viz., days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, branches/plant, pods/plant, pod length, 100-seed weight, seeds/pod, clusters/plant, pods/cluster and seed yield/plant, while cluster 2 showed lowest values for all the characters studied. Based on present study, parents for hybridization programme for incorporation of earliness and determinate habit which is the major bottleneck in the popularization of this underutilized pulse can be selected from cluster II whereas for other traits parents can be selected from cluster I.