Genetic diversity study in tropical carrot (Daucus carota L.)

Abstract

Genetic diversity study was conducted at ICAR- Indian institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru during 2018-19. In this study, 80 accessions were evaluated for 16 yield and yield attributing traits. The Mahalanobis’ D2 analysis grouped these accessions into seven clusters. Cluster I was the largest with 69 genotypes followed by cluster III comprising six genotypes while, the clusters II, IV, V, VI and VII contained one genotype each. Among the traits studied, yield contributed maximum (38.04 %) towards diversity, followed by root weight (26.58%), root color (9.18%) and plant height (6.7%). As far as root weight (g) [d1], leaf weight (g), root weight (g), number of leaves, TSS(°Brix), leaf weight (g), root diameter (mm), core diameter (mm), and root cracking are concerned, they contributed 3.45, 2.09, 1.77, 1.71, 1.55, 1.52, 1.46, 1.33, 1.01 and 0.82 percent respectively. Diversity analysis has given an indication about the genetic variation among the carrot accessions which will prove useful in selection of diverse parents in crop improvement programme.