Abstract

Twelve quantitative traits such as germination percentage, days to 50% flowering, plant height, branches plant^-1, clusters plant^-1, pod length, days to maturity, 1000-seed weight and grain yield plot^-1 were studied to determinate ample variation and association between 100 Guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] genotypes to screen out the best performing lines. Variance study of quantitative traits in various genotypes showed substantial level of variability. The largest variation was found for germination percentage, days to 50% flowering, plant height, branches plant^-1, clusters plant^-1, days to maturity and grain yield plot^-1. It was found that grain yield plot^-1, was positively correlated with germination percentage, clusters plant^-1, pods cluster^-1, seeds pod^-1 and pod length. However, branches plant^-1 and days to maturity were significant but negatively correlated with grain yield plot^-1. Principal component analysis indicated the quantity of variation by principal components 1 to 4 viz., 38.9, 14.7, 10.6 and 8.3%, respectively. Cluster analysis based on different quantitative traits arranged 100 guar accessions into eight groups. Ward clustering method was used to construct dendrogram based on quantitative traits of genotypes. Genotypes having desirable plant traits like early maturity and higher yield potential were screened for guar variety development under irrigated conditions. 

Key words: Guar, cluster analysis, variations, principal component analysis, dendrogram, ward cluster method.