Studies on genetic diversity in chilli (Capsicum annum L.) for drought toleranceand yield attributing traits

Abstract

An investigation was carried out to understand the extent of genetic diversity in thirty-four chilli(Capsicum annum L.) genotypes based on sixteen quantitative and qualitative traits. Mahalanobis’s D² analysis showed thepresence of wide genetic diversity among the 34 genotypes by forming 5 clusters irrespective of their geographicaldiversity, suggesting that there was no relation between geographic and genetic diversity. The cluster II showed a maximumnumber of genotypes (26), clusters I and III had three genotypes and clusters IV and V had only one genotype each. Intra-cluster distance analysis revealed that the minimum intra-cluster distance was observed in clusters IV and V. The inter-cluster distance (D) was found to be the maximum between clusters II and III and the same was minimum between clustersIV and V. A wider genetic diversity was observed for the different traits studied among the genotypes as evidenced by theformation of five clusters. The results indicated that the maximum contribution towards divergence was by the number offruits per plant (45.28%) followed by proline content (23.17%), SPAD value (11.23%), fruit length (5.88%) and fruityield (4.10%).