Aim: To study the genetic divergence studies in maintainer lines of rice for its yield and its attributing traits
Study design: Randomized block design.
Place and Duration of study: Institute of Rice Research, ARI, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, during the kharif season in 2024.
Methodology: The study involved 28 maintainer lines and two checks. Sown in nursery and transplanted with spacing of 30 cm x15 cm after 25 days. Observations was recorded in yield and its attributing traits. Statistical analysis was conducted using INDOSTAT software for the analysis of variance and genetic divergence for yield and its attributing traits.
Results: Analysis of variance reveled that there was a significant variation (p < 0.01) among genotypes for all traits. In Mahalanobis’s (1936) [6] D2, the 30 genotypes of rice were divided into eight clusters. Cluster I had highest number of rice genotypes (12), followed by Cluster II and VI with seven, six genotypes, respectively. The clusters, III, IV, V, VII and VIII were mono genotypic. Inter cluster distances between clusters VII and VIII were maximum. Cluster VI had also exhibited higher intra-cluster distance. Further, Cluster IV had showed maximum yield per plant, panicle length, kernel length and kernel L/B ratio. Cluster V has highest mean value for maximum number of grains per panicle, stigma exertion% and stigma length. The greatest contribution to genetic divergence was recorded by kernel breadth (19.77%), followed by days to 50% flowering (18.16%), 1000- grain weight (15.86%) and grain yield per plant (13.56%) indicating that selection for these traits was effective.
