Genetic Divergence of Germplasm Accessions in Potato (Solanum tuberosum subsp. tuberosum)

One hundred ninety five accessions of tuberosum group of potato were evaluated for nine distinct characters during three consecutive autumn crop seasons to assess the genetic divergence based on Non-hierarchical Euclidean distances for the identification of genetically diverse and agronomically superior accessions which may generate putative transgressive segregates on hybridization. Based on first five principle components, namely plant height, number of tubers, tuber yield, and number of stems and germination, which accounted for 97.67% of the variation, 195 potato accessions were grouped into 8 well distinct clusters. Geographical diversity was not related to genetic diversity. Twenty genetically diverse and agronomically promising genotypes were identified, which may be used in crossing programme to obtain segregates with commercially desirable attributes for development of potato varieties for sub-tropical plains of India.