Genetic diversity and character aassociation among sugarcane (Saccharum Spp.) clones

Single cane weight, fibre yield and number of millable canes at harvest were major contributing characters for cane yield. Selection based on stalk volume and single cane weight would be helpful forthe improvement of biomass. Sugar content and per cent CCS were major contributing characters for theoretical yield of alcohol. Per cent CCS, cane yield, fibre yield, single cane weight and number of millable canes exhibited positive direct effects on CCS yield. Based on the genetic distance using Mahalanobis's statistics, the genotypes were grouped into ten clusters. Maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and cluster IX (100.33) indicating exploitation of genotypes within them as parents for hybridization programme. Among the twenty six characters studied, biomass per cane, had the highest contribution (34.93%) towards total divergence followed by cane yield (18.42%) and sucrose content (11.62%).