Genetic Divergence Study of Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf) Genotypes Grown in Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

In any crop improvement program, the presence of genetic divergence is an important entry point for selection and hybridization. A trial was executed using twenty durum wheat genotypes with the objective of determining the genetic divergence and trait variability in durum wheat genotypes. The study was carried out in Ofla district, Tigray during the 2014 cropping season using a randomized complete block design. The inter-cluster distance of the twenty durum wheat genotypes ranges from 0.57536 in cluster one to 212.02335 in cluster four. The maximum inter-cluster distance was between cluster two and cluster four which was 212.0233. The clustering analysis classified the twenty durum wheat genotypes into four distinct clusters and the first cluster accommodates 15 durum genotypes including the two release genotypes. The second cluster consists of three durum wheat genotypes. The third and fourth clusters similarly contained each one durum wheat genotype. Cluster two and cluster four was highly divergent and crossing program between these clusters could result better segregating population in durum wheat breeding program.

​​Genetic Variability of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Different Agro-climatic Zone of Western Himalayan Region of Pakistan

“…It shows that the material selected for this study brings significant diversity which is required by any breeding program. Similar outcomes were also found by Kaya and Turkoz (2016), Mehari et al (2015).…”

“…The interactions between year and genotypes for plant height, tillers numbers, spike length, biological yield, grain yield and harvest index were highly significant while thousand grain weights and number of spikelet per spike were non-significant as there were difference in responses among genotypes during growing years. Similar results were obtained by Mehari et al (2015) and Kaya and Turkoz (2016). The location and genotype interaction was significant for plant height, spike length, grain yield, harvest index and biological yield.…”