Genetic Diversity Analysis in Aromatic Rice Germplasm using Agro-Morphological Traits

During the present investigation, an attempt was made to analyze the relatedness and distances among different aromatic rices using 20 agro-morphological traits. The genetic divergence among 45 indigenous aromatic rice germplasm was estimated for 20 agro-morphological characteristics. Based on this analysis using agro-morphological characteristics, all the genotypes were grouped into 10 different clusters. Cluster I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX & X, comprised of 20, 8, 5, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1 genotypes, respectively. Among different traits, weight of panicle, plant height, 1000-grain weight and flag leaf length played major role in making of clusters. The maximum intra-cluster divergence was observed for cluster VI and least for clusters IX & X. As far as the inter cluster divergence is concerned cluster IX & X were highly divergent, and least inter cluster divergence was recorded between cluster VIII & II. This analysis was also followed by Dendrogram study which grouped all genotypes in 3 major clusters. The genotypes from these clusters may be used as potential donors for future hybridization programme to develop varieties with more grain as well as kernel length.