Singh, S.P.Bairwa, Anil Kumar2018-04-092018-04-092016-06http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810043082The present investigation was carried out in augmented block design, with 93 clones [which included 6 check varieties viz., Co Pant-3220, Co Pant-97222, Co Pant-90223, Co Pant84212, Co Pant-5224, Co S-8436 and 87 early generation (C2) clones] during 2014-15 at the Sugarcane Breeding Experimental Block of Norman E Borlaug Crop Research Centre, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Distt. U. S. Nagar, Uttarakhand. Genetic variability and divergence analysis were studied for fourteen morphological as well as juice quality parameters. The observation were recorded based on morphological characters viz., germination percent, number of tillers, number of millable cane, cane height, cane diameter, single cane weight, average number of internodes per cane, average inter nodal length, and quality characters viz., juice brix percent, juice sucrose percent, juice purity percent, CCS percent, CCS yield and cane yield. Data was analyzed statistically for Analysis of variance, Mean performance of genotypes, Estimation of variability, heritability, genetic advance and Genetic Divergence. Analysis of variances was carried out for all the 14 morphological as well as juice quality parameters revealed significant differences among clones for the characters studied like NMC, cane weight, inter node length and cane yield. Analysis of variances also revealed that there were significant differences among checks varieties for the Number of millable canes, cane height, inter nodal length and cane yield. NMC exhibited highest GCV. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of means was observed for germination percent, NMC/ha, cane height and inter node length. This indicated greater role of additive genetic effect in control of these characters and suggested that selection for these characters will be effective. The 93 genotypes including 6 checks were grouped in 9 clusters based on hierarchical cluster analysis and Cluster IX had the highest number of genotypes (34) and Cluster I, V and VII each had 1 genotype. Among all the clusters, cluster I and VI showed highest cluster mean across the maximum number of traits. It was observed that the accessions from cluster I, II and VI were suitable for higher germination percent, tillers/ha, NMC/ha, cane diameter, Brix percent, juice sucrose percent, CCS percent, cane yield and CCS yield. These traits comprised of the yield contributing characters thus they can be included in the breeding programme for the enhancement of yield.ennullThesis