Genetic divergence studies in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.)

Present investigation was made to study the nature and magnitude of genetic divergence in 66 foxtail millet genotypes using multivariate analysis through Mahalanobis “D² statistics. The analysis suggested considerable genetic divergence among the material. D² statistics resulted in five clusters. Based on relative magnitude of D², the genotypes were grouped into five different non-overlapping clusters. Cluster I, having 36 genotypes, emerged with highest number of entries; cluster II were constituted by 15 genotypes. Cluster III comprising 13 genotypes. Cluster IV and V having one genotype each. The maximum intra-cluster distance was observed for cluster II, followed by cluster III and cluster I. The highest inter-cluster distance was recorded between cluster IV and III followed by cluster IV and V, then cluster IV and I followed by cluster III and I. Among the 13 characters studied highest contribution in manifestation of genetic divergence was exhibited by grain iron content (ppm) followed by flag leaf length, grain zinc content (ppm), straw weight, flag leaf area, plant height, flag leaf width, panicle weight and grain yield.