Author(s): A. CHAKRAVORTY AND P. D. GHOSH

Abstract: The assessment of genetic divergence was done for 51 landraces of rice based on 18 agromorphological traits following Mahalanobis\'s D2 analysis with the grouping of 51 rice genotypes into 11 clusters. The grouping showed 6 multigenotypic, 3 digenotypic and two monogenotypic clusters. With 16 genotypes, cluster II came to be the largest cluster. The maximum intra cluster D2 value (D2=76.867) was shown by cluster X followed by cluster IX, III and I, while the inter-cluster value was maximum between cluster IX and X (D2=316.296). The pattern of distribution of genotypes from different eco-geographical regions into various clusters was at random indicating that geographical diversity and genetic diversity were not related. Among the genotypes, maximum contribution towards genetic divergence came from the characters viz., culm tenth, culm diameter and grain length. Cluster VII recorded highest mean value for plant height, ligule length, culm length, culm diameter, culm number, panicle length and maturity. Hybridization among the genotypes from the cluster I, III, IX and X which had maximum inter-cluster distances and desirable values for flag leaf angle, grain breadth, grain weight, kernel weight, number of primary branches panicle-1 and number of grains panicle-1 is likely to produce heterotic combinations and wide variability in segregating generations.

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