Genetic diversity and its relationship with heterosis in okra

Investigation was carried out to assess the genetic diversity and relationship of heterosis with genetic distance between parental lines for days to flowering, node at which the first flower appeared, days to picking, marketable yield, total yield, fruits per plant, fruit weight, plant height, fruit length, days to appearance of YVMV disease, YVMV incidence, protein content, total minerals and mucilage content. On the basis of D² values, 28 parental lines were grouped into five clusters. The clustering of genotypes into different groups was observed to be independent of their geographical origin. No relationship of parental genetic distance with F₁ heterosis and performance could be established indicating that the genetic diversity estimates between parental lines based on D² may not be suitable criteria for the prediction of heterosis for most of the traits studied.