GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN SUGARCANE GERMPLASM

Abstract

Fifty three sugarcane clones were evaluated for sugar yield and its
components under coastal conditions of Andhra Pradesh with a view to
identify elite donors for future breeding programme for east coast zone.
Data recorded on 12 characters in each clone were subjected to Mahalanobis'
I)2 analysis. The clones were grouped in various clusters by Tocher's
method (Rao, 1952). These 53 clones were grouped into 12 clusters (Table 1).
Cluster I comprised the maximum number (24) of clones followed by
seven in cluster II. Clones Co 8348, Co 8354, Co 8356, Co 8361 and Co 8365
formed separate clusters (VIII to XII). Inter-cluster distances varied from
7.05 between cluster II and III to 20.17 between clusters III and XII. Clusters
II, III, IV and XI were quite close to each other. Intra-cluster distances ranged
from 0.00 to 6.96. The highest value was observed for cluster VII followed by
cluster I and VI