Genetic Divergence for Yield and its Component Traits in Chilli (Capsicum frutescensL) Accecessions of Kerala

A Study on genetic diversity was conducted with 78 chilli (Capsicum frutescensL. ) genotypes which were collected from different parts of Kerala. Fifteenquantitative characters and one qualitative characterwere taken into consideration. Mahalanobis D2 statistics was employed to study genetic divergence among 78 genotypes and they were grouped into nine clusters on the basis of relative magnitude of D2 values using Euclidean2 method. Cluster II accommodated maximum number (24) of genotypes and minimumwith cluster III (1 genotype). The inter cluster distances (D values) ranged between 3.90 to12.68. Minimum inter cluster distance was between cluster II and IV (3.90) and maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster VII and VIII (12.68). The intra cluster divergence varied from 3.32 to 5.45. Maximum intra cluster distance was achieved in cluster VIII (5.45) and minimum divergence was observed in cluster V (3.32). Cluster III was showed zero intra cluster distance as it contains only one genotype. The maximum relative contribution to the total divergence was made by fruit yield per plant (61.07 %) and cluster VIII and cluster IX may be taken into consideration as better parents for an efficient hybridization programme of chilli.