Research Article Open Access Research Article Open Access Journal of Phytochemistry & Biochemistry J o u r n a l o f P h y t o c h e m i s t r y & B i o c h e m i s t r y Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 1000114 J Phytochemistry Biochem, an open access journal Mastafa et al., J Phytochemistry Biochem 2019, 3:1 *Corresponding author: Md. Mahathir Sarker, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, EXIM Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bangladesh, Tel: + +88 01765 764427; E-mail: mahathir.sarker@yahoo. com Received July 17, 2018; Accepted January 17, 2019; Published January 25, 2019 Citation: Mastafa SG, Hossain MS, Sarker MM, Hossain S, Ansary WR, et al. (2019) Character Association and Genetic Divergence in Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum l.). J Phytochemistry Biochem 3: 114. Copyright: © 2019 Mastafa SG, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract The present research work was aimed at to study the genetic divergence and relationship between yield and yield contributing characters in 40 genotypes of spring wheat. The characters viz. plant height, spikes/plant, spike length, grains/spike, 1000 grain weight, harvest index, vegetative period, grain flling period, days to maturity, and grain yield/ plant were investigated and signifcant variations were observed among the genotypes. Divergence analysis clustered the studied genotypes into 7 diverse groups. The maximum number of genotypes were clubbed in cluster I followed by Cluster II, IV, V and VI. The cluster III and VII contained minimum numbers of genotypes. Comparison of cluster means for all the characters indicated considerable genetic divergence between the groups. The highest intra-cluster distance was obtained for cluster VII followed by Cluster VI and cluster III. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between genotypes of cluster V and VI followed by cluster VI and VII, and cluster II and V. The scattered diagram revealed that the genotypes G2, G16, G19, G22, G28, G36 and G37 took positions at the periphery of the diagram suggesting that these varieties/lines were more diverged from rest of the genotypes. Considering yield and contributing characters it appears that the genotypes G19 (6.54) and G37 (6.65) were promising for high yield potentiality. Therefore, these two genotypes could be selected for yield improvement program in spring wheat. Study of correlations showed that grain yield/plant was signifcantly and positively correlated with grains per spike at both phenotypic and genotypic levels and with spikes/plant at phenotypic level. Among the studied characters, spikes/plant showed the highest phenotypic coeffcient of variation followed by grain yield per plant, harvest index and 1000-grain weight. Study of heritability indicated that the characters spikes/plant, 1000-grain weight, harvest index and grain yield/plant were highly heritable. Path coeffcient analysis also confrmed that spikes/ plant, grains/spike, spike length, 1000-grain weight, and harvest index infuenced grain yield directly in positive direction. So, these characters should be taken into consideration in selection for yield improvement. Character Association and Genetic Divergence in Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum l.) Syed Gulam Mastafa 1 , Md. Sarowar Hossain 2 , Md. Mahathir Sarker 3* , Md. Shajedur Hossain 4 , Most. Waheda Rahman Ansary 5 , Aniruddha Sarker 6 and Md. Hashmi Sakib 7 1 Marketing Offcer (Cattle Feed) Bogra Zone ACI Godrej Agrovet Private Limited, Bangladesh 2 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bangladesh 3 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, EXIM Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bangladesh 4 Department of Plant Breeder Research and Development (Rice) Supreme Seed Company Ltd, Research and Development (Rice), Bangladesh 5 Department of Biotechnology, EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh, Biotechnology, Bangladesh 6 Department of Soil Science, EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh, Soil Science, Bangladesh 7 Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, EXIM Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh Keywords: Genetic divergence; Character association; Spring wheat; Yield and yield contributing characters; Triticum aestivum L Introduction Yield in wheat is a complex character and various morphological and physiological characters contribute to grain yield. Tese yield contributing characters are related between themselves showing a complex chain of relationship of them on yield. Te efectiveness of increasing yield depends on the extent to which the variability of yield is dependent on genetic factors [1]. Since, many of the quantitative plant characters which are of economic value are highly infuenced by environmental condition; the progress of breeding in such a population is primarily conditioned by the magnitude and nature of variation and interrelationship of plant characters [2]. Te magnitude of heritable variability for crop improvement is clearly the most important aspect. Te importance of genetic diversity in the improvement of crop has been stressed in both self and cross pollinated crop [3-5]. Te quantifcation of genetic diversity through biometrical procedures [6,7] has made it possible to choose genetically diverse parents for successful hybridization program. Moreover, evaluation of genetic diversity is important to know the source of genes for particular trait within the available germplasm [8]. Te Utility of multivariate analysis for measuring the degree of divergence and for assessing the relative contribution of diferent characters to the total divergence in self-pollinated crops has been established by several workers [9-12]. Practices of unilateral selection for them frequently end up in retrograde or less than optimum results in plants breeding [13]. Information on correlation coefcient between yield and its contributing characters has always been helpful as a basis for selection for yield in a breeding program. Terefore, correlation between diferent characters is an important aspect which should be kept in mind for better planning of selection program. Tus, the study of correlation coefcient and also path coefcient between the characters is important in fact for selection practice, since it permits the prediction of correlation response. Terefore, the present investigation was carried out in wheat to determine the following objectives: 1) To evaluate the performance of some wheat genotypes for yield and yield contributing characters, 2) To study the variability for yield and yield contributing characters, 3) To study the heritability and genetic advance for diferent characters, 4) To study the genetic divergence among the genotypes, and 5) To study