Comparison among different classificatory analysis methods in some upland rice genotypes

Fifty-seven early rice genotypes including 32 local collections were evaluated during kharif, 2002 and 2003 with a objective to group the genotypes into different clusters following different methods of classificatory analysis. Based on 14 characters, the 57 genotypes were grouped into different clusters using D2 analysis, Canonical analysis, numerical taxonomic approach and metro glyph analysis. Clustering pattern in different methods indicated that all 57 genotypes grouped into 5 clusters in D2 analysis, 8 clusters in metro glyph analysis and 9 clusters in numerical taxonomic approach at 80% phenotype level. The clustering pattern in the above mentioned methods indicated that the numerical taxonomic approach was more potent for classificatory analysis of biological population as one can easily differentiate further subtle differences among the genotypes by studying the dendrograms.