Multivariate analysis of genetic diversity in Phytophthora pod rot resistant exotic cocoa germplasm

The current research work was carried out to evaluate the genetic diversity associated with 30 cocoa accessions resistant to Phytophthora. The cluster analysis and principal component analysis evaluated the genetic variability among the different genotypes. The highest number of genotypes were observed in cluster III (8) when qualitative traits were considered. In quantitative cluster analysis, most of the genotypes were placed in separate clusters due to high variability in the germplasm. Principal component (PC) analysis showed that the first three PCs with more than one Eigen-value contributed to 79.9 per cent of variability for different traits. When qualitative and quantitative characters were considered along with resistant reaction, clusters with genotypes highly resistant to Phytophthora pod rot were observed. Hybridization programme involving these resistant hybrids belonging to diverse clusters will result in high yielding hybrids with ample resistance.