~ 202 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2017; 6(10): 202-204 ISSN (E): 2277- 7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating 2017: 5.03 TPI 2017; 6(10): 202-204 © 2017 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 19-08-2017 Accepted: 20-09-2017 Kalyani Pradhan Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Alok Nandi All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar- 751003, Odisha, India Niranjan Senapati All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar- 751003, Odisha, India Subrata Sarkar All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar- 751003, Odisha, India Anjana Patnaik All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar- 751003, Odisha, India Siba Prasad Mishra Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar- 751003, Odisha, India Geeta Pandey All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Correspondence Kalyani Pradhan Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Genetic divergence in chilli genotypes Kalyani Pradhan, Alok Nandi, Niranjan Senapati, Subrata Sarkar, Anjana Patnaik, Siba Prasad Mishra and Geeta Pandey Abstract A study of genetic diversity in 12 chilli genotypes for various characters revealed substantial differences for all the traits. Based on D 2 values, the genotypes were clustered into five constellations. Cluster I, II and III contained three genotypes each followed by cluster-IV (two) and cluster V (one). The intra and inter cluster distances indicated that the statistical distance between clusters III and IV was the highest and this was followed by the distance between clusters IV and V. Cluster I had the highest mean value for branches/plant. Cluster II had the maximum mean values for plant girth and plant height. Cluster III had the highest mean values for average fruit weight, fruit girth, plant spread(e-w), plant spread(n-s) and fruit yield/plant. Cluster IV had the highest mean value for fruit length, fruits/plant, days to 50% flowering and crop duration. Cluster V had the lowest mean values for days to 50% flowering and crop duration. Relative contribution of fruit yield per plant to genetic divergence of genotypes in chilli was the maximum, followed by days to 50% flowering and plant height. Keywords: chilli (Capsicum annuum L.), cluster and genetic diversity Introduction Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is a popular vegetable and spice crop of India and many parts of the world. It provides a wide range of variability and diversity with a tremendous scope for genetic studies and improvement by breeding. The selection of parents for the purpose of breeding depends on the existence of genetic diversity necessitating its assessment for improvement of quantitative traits. Genetically divergent parents may result in transgressive and productive recombinants. More diverse the parents within a reasonable range, better are the chances of achieving greater level of heterosis and also improving economic characters under consideration in the offspring. Mahalanobis’ D 2 statistic of multivariate analysis is recognized as a powerful tool in quantifying the degree of genetic divergence among the populations. Since such studies are meagre in Odisha and as there is a need to continually assess newer genotypes, the present study was undertaken. Materials and methods The investigation was undertaken on chilli at the All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops, Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, during the winter season of 2013-14 to study genetic divergence. Twelve genotypes were grown in randomized block design replicated thrice. The plot size was 8.1sq.m. All the recommended package of practices were followed for raising a healthy crop. Observations were recorded on 5 random tagged plants of each genotype in each replication for the characters plant height(cm), branches/plant, fruits/plant, weight of fruits/plant (g) and fruit yield (q/ha). Length of fruit (cm) and girth of fruit (cm) were recorded at edible stage from randomly selected ten fruits per entry in each replication. The character days to 50% flowering was computed on plot basis. The genetic divergence analysis was done using Mahalanobis D 2 statistic. The lines were grouped into clusters by the Tocher’s method as described by Rao (1952) [7] . Results and Discussion A perusal of Table 1 shows that the 12 genotypes of chilli could be grouped into 5 clusters on the basis of intra and inter cluster distances(Table 2).The first 3 clusters comprised of 3 genotypes each, while the clusters IV and V consisted of 2 genotypes and 1 genotype respectively. No parallelism/association was found between geographical and genetic diversity which is in consonance with the findings of Ajjapplavara (2009) [1] and Thul et al. (2009) [10] . The genetic drift and evaluation in different environments could cause greater diversity than