International Journal of Plant & Soil Science

Mahalanobis D² statistics were used to analyse the genetic divergence of thirty different okra genotypes, and the results showed that there was a significant amount of genetic variety. The clustering, inter and intra-cluster distances, and trait contributions provided insights into the genetic variability and diversity within the studied okra population. Thirty diverse genotypes were grouped into five clusters with the highest of eighteen genotypes in the cluster I, five in the cluster III & V and one each genotype in the cluster II and IV. Inter and intra cluster D² values ranged from 8.00 to 16.7 and 0.0 to 7.4, respectively. It showed that inter cluster distance was higher than the intra cluster distance indicating wide genetic diversity among the genotypes of different groups. The cluster means of 11 characters among five clusters indicated that high genetic variability ranged present for yield per plant (222.1-253.1), number of fruits per plant (31.8-38.9), plant height (59.0-100.7) and days to fifty percent flowering (42.8-54.0). The per cent contribution of yield and its attributing characters in genetic divergence were reported maximum for number of fruits per plant (46.4%) and first fruit node (16.3%). The genotypes HB-691-08, HBT-49-1, Hisar Unnat, Hisar Naveen, HBTC-6-7-1, Varsha Uphar, Arka Abhay were superior for overall yield and yield attributing characters. These genotypes were used to exploit genetic variation for further breeding programme.