Genetic diversity analysis in bread weat (Triticum aestivum L.) under Gangetic Alluvium Zone of West Bengal

Forty-nine genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were screened at District farm, AB Block, B.C.K.V., Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal during Rabi season for two years, i.e. 2015-2016 and 2018-2019 following Randomized Block Design with two replications to study genetic diversity following the Mahalanobis D² statistics and principal component analysis. The highest contribution towards total divergence was yield plant⁻¹ followed by the number of grains spike⁻¹, plant height, weight of grains spike⁻¹ and the test weight. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster IX and I (86.392), followed by clusters VIII and IX (82.829) indicating that the genotypes being represented in these clusters were distantly related. Therefore, any two genotypes selected from these two clusters may be utilized in crossing programs to synthesis potential high yielding genotypes. Principal component analysis (PCA) extracted 5 principal components explaining 80% to genetic variation. The PCA suggested that the genotypes are highly diverse.