Genetic Divergence of Tossa Jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) for Fibre Yield and its Related Component Characters Under Moisture Stress Condition

Abstract

The present investigation studied genetic divergence of 60 genotypes of tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) which included sixteen standard varieties to identify the most diverged genotypes under moisture stress condition. On the basis of Mahalanobis D2 analysis, genotypes were grouped into five clusters. Maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and V while cluster III showed the maximum intra-cluster distance. Cluster V exhibited highest means for days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of node, internode length, base diameter, mid diameter, top diameter, bark thickness and fibre weight. The highest contribution (12.63%) was exerted by plant height of total divergence. The results of the present study suggested that hybridization between genotypes in cluster V and IV could provide a wide spectrum of variation in the segregating generation which could provide opportunity for isolation of drought tolerant with high fibre yielding lines.