Elucidation of genetic diversity in distinct brinjal genotypes: Multivariate analysis using D2

Genetic divergence study among 45 brinjal genotypes was performed using Mahalanobsis D2 statistics to find prospective genotypes for use in a breeding programme. The genotypes were assessed for 11 traits and divided into twelve clusters based on Tocher’s method. Cluster I had the most genotypes (18), followed by cluster III (5), cluster V (4), cluster IV, VI and IX (3 each), cluster II, VII and X (2 each) and cluster VIII, XI and XII (1 each). The intracluster distances ranged between 0 and 1064.87. Cluster X has the largest intra-cluster distance (1064.87), followed by Cluster IV (831.08). Cluster VIII, XI, and XII had the smallest intra-cluster distance (0). The inter-cluster distances varied from 804.88 to 4758.26. The largest inter-cluster distance was between IX and XI (4758.26), followed by III and XII (3923.90), and the shortest distance was between cluster II and III (804.88). Genotypes from the cluster with a large inter-cluster distance could be selected as parents to produce superior F1 hybrids and segregants. The three characters, fruit length (29.70%), number of primary branches (18.89%), and plant height (14.55%), altogether account for 63.14% of overall divergence. As a result, the combination of those traits could be exploited to develop superior varieties with higher yields.