Forty four indica rice cultivars were evaluated under rain-fed condition for sixteen quantitative traits to examine the nature and magnitude of variability and genetic divergence. Among all the traits grain yield per plant exhibited highest estimate of PCV (29.11) and GCV (28.48) followed by filled grains/panicle and effective tillers/plant. Broad sense heritability (98.90) was highest for chlorophyll content followed by grain length and grain breadth. On the basis of D2 analysis 44 rice genotypes were grouped into nine clusters and three ungrouped clusters. Cluster I was the largest and contained 22 genotypes. Rest of the clusters contained 2–3 genotypes. The genotype belonging to ungrouped cluster X, namely, NDR 1130-1 showed promise for early maturity, long grain size and grain yield/plant. The highest intracluster distance was observed in cluster IX, containing two genotypes differing mainly for maturity and grain yield/plant. The most distant clusters were Cluster IV and ungrouped cluster XII. The genotypes of cluster IV showed promise for rain-fed condition with regard to days to maturity, effective tillers/plant, grain yield/plant and chlorophyll content. Contribution (%) towards the total divergence was maximum through grain breadth followed by chlorophyll content, grain length and total tillers/plant.
D2 analysis, Variability, Heritability, Rice, Clusters
