Morphological variability among low chilling peach genotypes under Dehradun conditions

Abstract

Meagre information is available on the genetic diversity on low chilling peach cultivars. On 11 genotypes, 13 morphological traits were recorded and data analyzed using Mahalanobis’s D2 statistics. All the genotypes were classified into five distinct clusters, grouping together the less divergent genotypes. The accessions showed sufficient variability to select genotypes for further breeding and grouping. Cluster-II and IV had three genotypes each, followed by Cluster-I and V with two each and Cluster III had one genotype. The maximum inter-cluster distance (7.63) was observed between Clusters III and V. The parents for hybridization could be selected on the basis of their inter-cluster distance for isolating useful recombinants in the next generation. To improve the yield traits in peach, selection and hybridization programme may be initiated utilizing the Fla 16-33, Saharanpur Prabhat and Pratap owing to their distinct genetic diversity.