Genetic divergence analysis in sesame (sesamum indicum L.)

Thirty one germplasm lines of sesame collected from AICRP on Sesame & Niger, Jabalpur and NBPGR Regional Station, Akola were evaluated for genetic divergence using Mahalanobis D2 analysis. Analysis of variances for dispersion indicates significant differences among the genotypes. Thirty one genotypes were grouped into seven clusters and cluster I (10) was largest, followed by cluster II (8), cluster III (7) and cluster V (3), while clusters IV, VI and VII were solitary. Inter cluster distance ranged from 51.96 (between clusters V and VII) to 423.26 (between clusters II and VII), while maximum intra cluster distance observed within cluster V (48.03). Character oil content contributed maximum (91.83%) towards genetic divergence. On the basis of the inter cluster distance, cluster I, II, III and VII were identified as distant clusters and genotypes viz., S-0434, IC-413209, GRT-8637, NIC-16328, TKG-22, IC-413204, IC-413231, Lalguda local, KMR-116, SI- 331517, IC-413208, KMS-5-343, ES-111-284, KMS-5-873, SI-3218 and SI-2973 from these clusters could be used for intercrossing to obtain heterosis and also wider variability.