Genetic divergence analysis in rice (Oryza sativa L.) under sodic soil condition

Genetic divergence and variability was assessed among eighty eight (88) diverse rice genotypes including three checks (Narendra Usar Dhan 3, Jaya and CSR-36) which were evaluated in augmented deign under sodic soil using non-hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis. The genotypes were grouped into ten clusters which indicate presence of high degree of genetic diversity in germplasm collections. Among the different clusters, cluster V with eighteen (18) entries got the highest number of genotypes followed by thirteen (13) entries in both cluster I and II. Although the least number of genotypes was observed in Cluster X but the highest intra-cluster distance was identified in cluster X (25.00), followed by cluster VIII (14.62) and VII (13.76). In case of inter-cluster distance maximum value was found between cluster X and III (46.19). So the genotypes present in the diverse clusters may serve as parental materials for hybridization programme which will leads to isolation of desirable segregants for developing high yielding rice varieties in sodic soil.