Maize germplasm were subjected to group constellations or clusters by using Mahalanobis's generalized distance D2 analysis. The results revealed that, biological yield per plant contributed most towards genetic divergence, followed by remaining characters in descending order. Total 64 genotypes were grouped into 5 clusters. Maximum numbers of genotypes were recorded in cluster I having 60 genotypes followed by clusterII, cluster III, cluster IV and cluster V. Cluster I showed maximum intra cluster D2 value while Cluster II, III, IV and V showed no such cluster divergence. High inter cluster divergence was observed between cluster I and cluster V, followed by I and IV, and cluster III and V, while it was lowest between clusters II & III. In Anderson's Canonical analysis total three canonical roots were obtained out of which the first canonical root has accounted for 79.43% variation while the second and third canonical roots have expressed 9.69 and 4.08% respectively. By selecting diverse parents from these clusters crop improvement in maize can be strengthened to produce superior single cross hybrids.
Zea Mays L., D2 statistics, Genetic divergence, Group constellations, Canonical analysis
