Abstract

The nature and degree of genetic diversity present in wheat collections from its principal areas of cultivation would help to select parents for evolving superior varieties. The present investigation was aimed at estimating the nature and magnitude of genetic divergence in a set of wheat germplasm including that from triticale showing cross compatibility with Triticum aestivum L. The experiment was conducted at Nadia district of West Bengal during rabi season in two consecutive years 2012–13 and 2013–14 following RBD design. Forty-nine genotypes were grouped into 10 clusters following Mahalanobis D2 analysis and maximum numbers of genotypes were found in cluster I followed by clusters V and VII. Maximum intra-cluster distance was observed in cluster I followed by cluster VI. Maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters VIII and X followed by clusters VI and X. PCA and cluster analysis were found to be almost similar as D2 analysis except some variations. Six principal components PC 1 to PC 6 cumulatively contributed about 73% of the total variation.