Genetic diversity analysis in tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) germplasm lines

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine the magnitude of genetic diversity and characters contributing to genetic diversity among 81 tossa jute genotypes. Cluster analysis based on Euclidean squared distances and ward’s method, the genotypes were grouped into ten distinct clusters. Analysis reveals that stick weight contributes maximum to the phenotypic diversity (65.52%) followed by green weight (13.64%) and fibre yield (10.10%). Among the clusters Cluster IX recorded highest mean fibre yield (19.91g) followed by Cluster VII (18.94g) and these clusters also recorded high mean values for plant height, basal diameter, green weight and stick weight. The highest inter- cluster distance was 186.80 (between clusters II and X) followed by 161.26 (between clusters IV and X), indicating the wide genetic diversity among these clusters. The highest intra-cluster distance was observed in cluster II (20.34) and the lowest in cluster X (3.17). The average inter-cluster distances were higher than the average intra-cluster distances, which shows the presence of wide genetic diversity among the genotypes of different clusters than those of the same cluster. The first two principal components, whose Eigen values are greater than one, accounted for 74% of the total variation among the five characters. The information obtained from diversity analysis is useful in planning further breeding programme for tossa jute improvement.