Studies on clustering of chilli (Capsicum annum L.) genotypes based on genetic distance

Abstract

Mahalanobis' D² statistics was used to analyse forty-five chilli (Capsicum annum L.) genotypes based on eighteen characters in order to pick out supreme potential parents for hybridization. Based on D² values, the genotypes were divided into eleven groups with extreme divergence. Cluster I had the majority of genotypes (sixteen), whereas the fewest genotypes were identified in clusters VII, VIII, X and XI (one). Cluster XI had the greatest distance within the cluster. Clusters V and XI had the maximum generalized distance between them, followed by clusters VII and XI, clusters IV and VII, clusters IV and V and clusters II and XI. This suggests that the genotypes in these groups had more genetic variation. Following cluster VII and VIII, cluster V showed the highest cluster mean for green, dry fruit yield (846g and 95.50g) and several yield-related features. At clusters I, II and VI, no observation for high cluster means but had fair trait performance. It may be suggested to directly advance the genotypes from clusters V, VII, VII in hybridization to obtain unique recombinants.