Vol. 8, Special Issue 1, Part B (2024)

Abstract: An investigation was carried out at the Experimental field, Division of Vegetable Science, SKUAST-K, Shalimar during Rabi season 2021-22. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications and plant spacing of 30 cm × 30 cm for thirty genotypes including three checks, Pusa Virat, Purple Vienna and White Vienna. Observations were recorded for various quantitative and quality traits. Based on Mahalanobis D² statistics, 30 genotypes were grouped into eleven clusters. Maximum number of 6 genotypes were included in cluster II followed by cluster I with 5 genotypes. Highest intra cluster distance was observed in cluster V and inter cluster distance (D²) was recorded maximum between cluster XI and cluster IV, indicating that the genotypes in these clusters are genetically very diverse hence, can be used as parents in any breeding programme to get higher heterotic effects.