Genetic divergence studies in okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench.] genotypes

Genetic divergence of 27 okra genotypes was studied using Mahalanobis D 2 statistics revealed that considerable genetic diversity among genotypes in okra. Twenty seven diverse genotypes were grouped into four clusters with the highest of 20 genotypes in the cluster I, 5 in the cluster II and one each genotype in the cluster III and IV. Intra and inter cluster D 2 values ranged from 32.27 to 38.64 and 45.17 to 120.09 respectively. It showed that inter cluster distance was higher than the intra cluster distance indicating wide genetic diversity among the genotypes of different groups. The cluster means of 15 characters among four clusters indicated that high genetic variability range present for yield per plant (155.2-334.1), average weight of edible pod (19.6-38.8), number of seeds per pod (58.7-93.6) and plant height (109.3-133.3). The relative contribution of studied characters indicated that weight of 100-seeds (1082), followed by number of epicalyx per pod (1950), average weight of edible pods (2272), number of seeds per pods (2278) and plant height (2465) contributed highest towards the genetic divergence. Genotype having these characters in different cluster could be used in breeding programme to develop high yielding cultivars in okra.