Srinivas Thati

The present investigation was undertaken with 82 rice genotypes to estimate genetic divergence of the genotypes for yield and yield components. The study involved 70 genotypes from Maruteru, six from Machilipatnam, three from Bapatla, two from Phillippines and one from Pulla. The diversity was evaluated using multivariate analysis technique of Mahalanobis D 2. The 82 rice genotypes studied were grouped into ten clusters. Cluster IV was observed to be the largest with 22 genotypes, followed by Cluster I with 17 genotypes and Cluster V with 13 genotypes. The clusters, VII, VIII, IX and X were monogenotypic. The pattern of distribution of genotypes into various clusters was observed to be at random with no relation to geographical diversity. Results on inter-cluster distances revealed maximum diversity between genotypes of cluster IX and cluster X, while intra-cluster distance was noticed to be maximum for cluster V. Cluster III had recorded maximum grain yield per plant. Further, maximum contribution towards genetic divergence was noticed by filled grains per plant (47.03%), followed by ill-filled grains per plant (21.92%) and minimum by days to 50 per cent flowering (0.01%).