Genetic diversity study through K-Means clustering in germplasm accessions of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

To identify potential genotypes for location specific breeding programmes of Andhra Pradesh, genetic diversity among 537 chickpea germplasm accessions was assessed yield attributing traits during rabi 2020-21 at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Acharya N.G. Ranga University, Nandyal, Pradesh. K-means clustering utilised to ascertain distances which were grouped into 12 different clusters. Cluster I the biggest and had most (73), followed by clusters XII (66), VII (60), XI (58), X (49), V & (43), III (40), IV (36), II (27), IX (22) VI (20). Clusters IX, as well VII, divergent, with maximum inter-cluster distances. The viz., NBeG-169, RVSSG-40, CP 117-5-23 ICCV 07101 identified high per se performance from diverse IV, VI, inclusion parents in a hybridization program achieve desirable transgressive segregants. Keywords: Chickpea, cluster, &nbsp