0 Views
L. MADHAVILATHA*, M. SUBBA RAO, M. SHANTHI PRIYA AND M. HEMANTH KUMAR
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Agricultural Research Station, Perumallapalle, Tirupati
Fifty genotypes of little millet were evaluated for genetic divergence for nine quantitative traits. Genetic divergence was estimated by using Mahalanobis’s D2 statistics and genotypes were grouped into nine clusters. Among the clusters cluster I comprised of twenty three genotypes, cluster II had nine genotypes, cluster III had eight genotypes, cluster V had five genotypes and the remaining clusters IV, VI, VII, VIII and IX consisted of one genotype each. The maximum inter cluster D2 value was observed between cluster IX and VI followed by between cluster IX and V, cluster IX and II, cluster IX and IV and cluster IX and I which indicated that the genotypes from these clusters would be utilized in crossing programme to develop high yielding little millet varieties. The genotype in cluster IX recorded high grain yield per plant followed by genotype in cluster VII which can be utilized directly in crop improvement programme.