Variability and Cluster Analysis of Morpho-Physio Traits of Terminalia tomentosa Germplasm for Identification of Donor Source

Terminalia tomentosa (Combretaceae) has been well recognized in tropical tasar silk industry as the most important primary food plant. Fifty accessions of T. tomentosa of diverse origin were selected for studying the genetic diversity for 36 morpho-physio-anatomical parameters. Analysis of variance indicated a significant difference among accessions for most of the quantitative characters studied. The maximum coefficient of variation was recorded for phenol (53.21%) followed by proline (52.10%), moisture (50.16%) and protein (43.7%), contents in the leaf. All the accessions were grouped into 7 clusters with maximum accessions (21) in cluster I followed by cluster II and cluster IV having 11 accessions each. Cluster III had 4 accessions and remaining clusters were represented by one accession each. The presence of variability in the 50 germplasm accessions was also reflected in the cluster means for traits studied. Maximum contribution towards genetic diversity (47.92%) was recorded for proline followed by protein (26.37%) contents, thereafter, reducing (10.53%) and non reducing sugar (11.27%) contributed for genetic diversity. The results indicated that pattern of distribution of genotypes into various clusters was at random indicating that geographical distribution and genetic diversity were not related.