Abstract:Exploration of genetically diverse accessions is critical for germplasm preservation and future breeding material. Because of the large number of cultivars available, breeders have a lot of room to create new and better varieties with regard to quality features for direct commercial use. Chickpea genotypes and standard checks were replicated twice to measure genetic variety in and across germplasm groups for yield and its components in order to develop superior recombinants that would aid in the study of variation patterns. Mahalanobis (1936) D2 statistics were used to determine phenotypic variances, coefficients of variation, heritability, genetic advance, and cluster analysis to study the nature and amount of genetic divergence. Data was gathered on eleven quantitative traits.
Six clusters were formed from the sixty genotypes. Cluster I has the most genotypes, with 43. Clusters VI and IV had the greatest inter cluster distance, while cluster VI genotypes had the most intra cluster distance. The D (distance between clusters) ranged from 32.34% to 32.34%. (484.53). Cluster VI and cluster IV had the greatest inter cluster distance (D=484.53), followed by cluster VI and III (D=348.68), cluster VI and cluster I (D=327.59), cluster V and cluster III (D=315.96), and cluster IV and II (D=274.98). Clusters IV and IV had the smallest inter cluster distance (D=32.34). Clusters VI and IV had the highest value at the inter cluster level, followed by Clusters VI and III. The grouping means for different characters showed considerable differences among the clusters for all the characters.