POTENTIAL USE OF QUALITATIVE TRAITS FOR GENETIC DIVERSITY ANALYSIS IN HEVEA BREEDING

摘要

The present study was undertaken to assess the utility of qualitative traits of Hevea brasiliensis in identification of diverse parents for hybridization programmes. Morhophological traits of 30 H. brasiliensis clones were scored based on their descriptors and analysed to group the clones based on their similarity. Ortet clones formed three clusters but did not reveal any relation with the geographical origin of the clones. UPGMA dendrogram constructed using similarity measure of 30 clones revealed four major clusters. Cluster I with 10 clones showed the lowest similarity with other clusters. The results of the present study indicate that there exists a genetic relationship among the clones clustered together based on discrete morphological traits. The possibility of using parents from distant clusters in future breeding programmes is discussed.