Agro-morphological and genetic diversity among elite wheat genotypes grown under Kashmir conditions

Genetic divergence was studied using Mahalanobis D2 statistics in a set of 68 bread wheat genotypes using 14 quantitative traits. On the basis of which, these genotypes were grouped into 10 clusters. Inter-cluster distances ranged from 4.67 (cluster III and VI) to 15.33 (cluster VIII and IX) and were more than intra-cluster distances which ranged from 0 (cluster X) to 9.25 (cluster II). Based on degree of inter-cluster distances, clusters II, V, VI, VII, IX, and X were regarded as diverse clusters, however, the maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters VIII and IX (15.33) followed by clusters V and IX (14.60) and VII and IX (13.78). This indicates that the genotypes included in these clusters have wide genetic diversity and could be used in hybridization programme which may be aimed at either combination breeding or for exploitation of heterosis. Traits like number of productive tillers per running meter, 1000 grain weight and grain yield had high contribution towards genetic divergence, hence these traits are major determinants of genetic diversity in the present set of genotypes. The presence of significant genetic variability among the evaluated wheat genotypes suggests an opportunity for improvement of grain yield through hybridization of genotypes from different clusters and subsequent selection from the segregating generations.