Genetic Diversity Studies for Tuber Yield and Yield Related Traits in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Genotypes

Genetic diversity is a pre request for successful breeding program. The study was conducted at Adet in 2018/19 under field condition in simple lattice design with three replication. The aim of the study was to identify genetically divergent potato genotypes having desired traits for further potato breeding activity. A total of 36 potato genotypes were evaluated for 18 quantitative traits in simple lattice design. The analysis of variance revealed that highly significant (p < 0.001) difference among the tested potato genotypes for all quantitative traits except stem number per hill. The studied 36 potato genotypes were grouped in to five distinct clusters. Cluster V was the largest cluster which consisted of eleven genotypes (30.56%) and cluster III comprise three genotypes (8.33%). Clusters I and IV having divergence distance can be used as a parent for further breeding or crossing. The highest and lowest intra cluster distance was observed in cluster III (4.97) and V (2.37) respectively. A total of six principal component with an Eigen value >1 accounted for 78.22% of the total variation in the studied potato genotypes.