GENETIC DIVERSITY IN TRADITIONAL LOCAL CULTIVAR OF JHUM RICE GENOTYPES OF BANGLADESH

The genetic diversity of seventeen indigenous jhum rice accessions collected from the BRRI gene bank was studied through Mahalanobis D²-statistics for grain yield and its contributing characters. The genotypes were grouped into three clusters. Cluster III contained the highest number of genotypes (10), while clusters I and II contained five and two genotypes, respectively. The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters II and III (14.408) and the lowest between clusters I and II(5.9). Genotypes of cluster III showed high genetic distances from all other clusters in terms of inter-cluster distance. The highest cluster means for number of effective tillers (11.34), longest panicle (25.41 cm), high panicle weight (3.45 g), grain per panicle, total spikelets per panicle, and grain yield were obtained from cluster II, whereas the lowest mean values for yield, plant height and grain breadth were found in cluster III. Cluster I contained the genotypes producing comparatively taller and earl maturing genotypes. Therefore, genotypes under cluster III and cluster I have enough potentiality to be used for backcrossing or as parents in a breeding program to produce desired recombinants with early maturity and high yield specific to jhum cultivating areas in Bangladesh.