Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar
Online published on 3 December, 2016.
The genetic divergence study was undertaken at TCA, Dholi farm of Rajendra Agricultural University, Bihar, with thirty inbred lines of quality protein maize (QPM) having different geographical origin. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among 30 inbred lines of QPM for all the 15 characters indicating ample scope for selection of promising genotypes for yield improvement. All the thirty inbred lines were grouped into 6 clusters using D2statistics. Highest inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster V and cluster VI (3990.93) followed by cluster I and cluster V (2946.25) and cluster III and VI (2195.13) on the basis of their genetic distances. Inbred lines from these clusters may be selected as parents for hybridization programme for developing new hybrid combinations. Cluster V showed higher mean performance for maximum characters such as plant height (148.89), total number of leaves (12.44), ear height (78.28), ear length (6.54), 100 kernel weight (25.66), ear weight (104.56) and cluster VI for days to 50% silking (66.00) and days to 50% tasseling (61.00). Therefore, selection of parents from these clusters may be done for desired traits. 100 kernel weight followed by yield per plot and days to 50% silking were having maximum contribution towards total genetic divergence.
quality protein maize (QPM), genetic divergence, D2 analysis, quantitative characters
