Estimation of Genetic Diversity in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) CMS Lines for High out Crossing Potential and Quality Traits

In the present study genetic diversity among 40 rice genotypes was evaluated using Mahalanobis D2 statistic based on morphological markers. Based on cluster analysis, the germplasms were grouped into 4 clusters of which Cluster I comprising of 23 genotypes was the largest group followed by the cluster II comprising of 15 genotypes, the clusters III and IV were represented by single genotype indicating high degree of heterogeneity among the genotypes. Maximum intra cluster distance observed in cluster II is (146.8) followed by cluster I (112.9) indicating the existence of variability among the genotypes within these clusters. The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and III (606.5), While the lowest was noticed between cluster II and III (222.9), describing that the genotypes included in these clusters were closely related. The kernel length, kernel length after cooking, kernel breadth, gel consistency, days to 50% flowering and plant height together contributed 90.1% towards total divergence. Therefore, these characters should be given importance during hybridization and selection of segregating populations. The genotypes falling in different clusters with the high mean for grain yield and other component characters can be utilized for the hybridization programme to obtain elite segregants.