Genetic diversity in Heteropogon contortus.

摘要

Heteropogon contortus (formerly known as Andropogon contortus) commonly known as black spear grass is an important perennial fodder grass and occurs throughout the tropics and subtropics. It has wide adaptability to tolerate various abiotic stress situations. To determine the extent of variation/similarity among the genotypes of H. contortus for various metric traits, non-hierarchical Euclidian cluster analysis was used, which results in the identification of five clusters. The largest cluster was cluster 5 represented by 9 genotypes followed by cluster 1 and 2 represented by 8 and 6 genotypes, respectively. In cluster 3, four genotypes were included while the smallest cluster, i.e. cluster 4 was represented by only two genotypes. Agronomically superior genotypes were grouped in cluster 4 with very high values for tiller number, green fodder yield and dry matter yield, while the inferior genotypes were grouped in clusters 1 and 3.