Genetic divergence in seed characteristics of guava: A basis for parent selection in hybridization

The efficiency of guava breeding programme for low seed content can be enhanced by choosing superior cross combination made by divergent clones. The nature and magnitude of genetic divergence was assessed for fruit weight and six seed characters using Mahalanobis D² statistics in 68 guava accessions maintained at the National Active Germplasm Site, CISH, Lucknow. Tocher's method grouped all genotypes into five distinct clusters. Genotypes falling in clusters IV and V were highly diverse from each other. Mean fruit weight and fruit: seed weight proportion were higher in cluster I and V, respectively. Furthermore, cluster V had the minimum number of seeds fruit⁻¹, seed weight fruit⁻¹, 100-seed weight, number of seeds 100 g⁻¹ fruit and seed content, and cluster I had high number of seeds fruit and seed weight fruit⁻¹. Mean number of seeds 100 g⁻¹ fruit and seed content was highest in cluster III whereas, cluster IV had the maximum value of 100-seed weight. Cluster analysis using Ward's method also revealed the similar group patterns with five distinct groups. Thus, for selecting desired genotypes with better seed characteristics, population can be raised by hybridizing accessions from cluster IV and I.