Phenotypic And Molecular Divergence Analysis Of Oat Germplasm (Avena Sativa) Under Northern Indian Conditions

The present study was undertaken to assess the genetic diversity among 28 oat (Avena sativa L.) germplasm lines through both phenotypic and molecular approach during rabi 2018-19 in RBD design. D2 analysis grouped all 28 genotypes into six clusters. The mean for green fodder yield, dry matter yield and number of leaves per plant was highest in cluster number II. The inter-cluster distance was highest between VI and III cluster pair suggesting significant high genetic diversity among genotypes of these clusters. On the basis of mean performance and genetic distance of different characters, genotypes JHO 88-2 – OS 6 for green fodder yield and OS 403 – OS 346 for dry matter yield were found to be diverse. Crude protein, leaf stem ratio and days to maturity contributed maximum towards variability which served as source characters for geneticdivergence. The molecular diversity analysis using ten SSR markers clustered genotypes into five clusters and significant level of dissimilarity was depicted among them. PIC values ranged from as low as 0.19 to as high as 0.59 (AM04). Genetic divergence revealed JHO 88-2, SKO 90 and SKO 98 to be most diverse at both morphological and molecular level. These genotypes can further be utilized for oat hybridization programme.