Genetic divergence in land races of rice

Genetic diversity was assessed in 29 land races of rice using Mahalanobis's D² statistics. Eight quantitative characters including grain yield were considered for the study. Based on genetic distances, the 29 genotypes were grouped into five clusters. The mode of distribution of genotypes from different geographic regions into various clusters was at random indicating that geographical diversity and genetic diversity were not related. The characters days to first flowering and single plant yield contributed maximum towards genetic divergence. The maximum inter cluster distance was recorded between cluster IV and cluster V. The genotypes in these clusters Vattan and Vellai Chitraikar (cluster IV) and Thulasi Manjari (cluster V) may serve as potential donors for future hybridization programmes.