ESTIMATE OF GENETIC DIVERGENCE FOR YIELD AND YIELD RELATED TRAITS IN CHILLI (CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.)

In a field experiment forty genotypes of chilli were examined genetic diversity for various growth and yield traits during winter season 2021-2022, with the aim of genetic divergence (D 2 ) among the genotypes for various traits.The experimental material for the study consisted of 40 genotypes including one check (Kashi Anmol), laid in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications.Observations were recorded on thirteen quantitative characters and forty genotype.The clustering pattern of the forty genotypes were grouped into seven different non-overlapping cluster.Cluster I had highest number of genotypes (12) followed by cluster V (11), cluster IV (7), III (6), VII (2) whereas cluster II, cluster VI had presented one entry in each group.The minimum intra cluster distance (0.00) was found for cluster VI, II and maximum was found for cluster V (46.41).The maximum inter-cluster distance was found between cluster IV to VII (1537.87).The minimum inter-cluster D 2 value found in case of cluster I to II (36.58).Highest per cent contribution were observed in pedicle length (9.49%) followed by days to 50 per cent flowering (9.36%), fruit length (9.10%), no. of fruit per plant (8.59%).Thus, it can be inferred from the data above that selecting for these qualities will effectively enhance the crop for increased production and contributing traits.