Genetic divergence in rice accessions of hill zone of Karnataka

Genetic diversity among 39 Local rice genotypes was worked out using Mahalanobis D² statistic. On the basis of genetic distance, these genotypes were grouped into eight clusters. Cluster VI was the largest, consisting of 21 genotypes, while clusters I, II, III, IV, and V contained two genotypes each and cluster VI and VIII contained four genotypes each. Grouping of genotypes in different clusters indicated the existence of significant amount of variability among the genotypes for the traits studied. High degree of divergence was recorded between cluster IV and VIII. Based on high mean performance of the traits studied, two clusters (IV & II) which are having local rice genotypes Biliya, Doddabatta, Puttabatta and Onamer danelu may be used as parents in future breeding programme to achieve desirable segregants for tall plant stature, number of panicles per plant, panicle length and high grain yield.