Genetic Divergence Analysis in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

Sixty Indian mustard genotypes studied for genetic divergence using Mahalanobis’s D2 statistics indicated the presence of wider genetic diversity among the material. Analysis of variance indicated that considerable genetic variability were existed among the 60 genotypes. On the basis of Tocher’s clustering pattern, the genotypes were grouped into 9 clusters. According to the results, C I had the maximum no. of 16 genotypes, while the C IX and C VIII had 13 and 10 genotypes, respectively. Plant height, length of main raceme, 1000-seed weight and siliqua on main raceme were the major contributors for genetic diversity among the genotypes with 57.25%, 21.63%, 20.86% and 8.32% respectively. The highest intra cluster distance was recorded for CVII (246.31) followed by C III (131.03) and C IX (127.63). The maximum inter cluster distance was observed between C VI and IX (2338.242) followed by C III and IX (2028.639), while the lowest in the C VIII and IX (274.3). The above results indicates that these genotypes have maximum genetic diversity and useful for developing a large number of seggregants through crossing programme by using maximum diverse genotypes.