Study of genetic divergence for earliness and yield attributing traits in tropical cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L)

An experiment conducted during session 2015-2016 at two different season to study the genetic diversity among the different lines taken. All the genotypes were divided into four different clusters. Cluster I was the largest and cluster III and IV were the smallest cluster classified. The highest inter cluster distance (580.42) was observed in between cluster I and cluster IV followed by cluster I and III (438.36), cluster I and II (180.79) and cluster II and cluster IV (185.76). In the present investigation, cluster IV contains genotype with early curd initiation (73.25 days) and curd maturity (84.75 days). The cluster with highest net curd weight was found to be in cluster IV (304.08 g), while the lowest curd weight was in cluster I (212.38 g). It is may be concluded that crossing between genotypes of cluster IV and I are likely to be exploited for high heterosis for net curd weight, marketable curd weight in cauliflower.