Diversity Analysis in Persian Walnut (Juglans regia L.) Trees of Shimla Hills

To explore the genetic diversity in Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) trees in Shimla (Himachal Pradesh). 212 unevenly managed trees were screened for yield and biomass contributing characters. Maximum values of coefficients of variability were recorded for nut yield (68.42%) followed by yield efficiency (66.01%). Based on nut yield, trunk and leaf characteristics the intra-specific variability was assessed using non-hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis. All genotypes were grouped into eight clusters showing non-parallelism between geographic and genetic diversity. Genotypes of cluster 1 and 8 were highly diverse from each other having inter-cluster distance of 28.30. The mean 2 values of trunk cross-sectional area (cm ) were higher (1262.06) and (1005.52) in genotypic clusters 1 and 5, respectively. Genotypes of cluster 3 recorded highest nut yield (27.32 kg/tree) and were selected for their further evaluation in agroforestry systems.