Genetic Diversity and Trait Association in Tartary Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) Using Mahalanobis D² Analysis in the Cold-Arid Region of Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

Buckwheat, a member of the genus Fagopyrum Mill. under the family Polygonaceae, is widely distributed across Asia and Europe. A total of 22 accessions of Tartary buckwheat with some local germplasm were analysed by cluster analysis using 6 quantitative characters to group them based on the similarity at the phenotypic level and to identify the most relevant characters. The study aims to successfully reveal significant genetic diversity among the evaluated genotypes of Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) collected from the cold-arid region of Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, India, using Mahalanobis D² Analysis. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant genetic variability among the evaluated genotypes across all traits studied. Among the studied genotypes, Shimla B1 was found to have maximum leaves per plant, plant height, biological yield and straw yield per plant. The genotypic variance for all the traits was lower than the phenotypic variance. High phenotypic and genotypic variation, heritability, and genetic advance were observed for leaf per plant and harvest index. Straw yield per plant showed a strong and positive correlation with leaves per plant, plant height, biological yield and harvest index. The nonhierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis using Mahalanobis's statistic grouped the genotypes into two distinct clusters, among which one was polygenotypic, and one was monogenotypic. Among all the genotypes studied, Shimla B1 and IC 341589 were found to be the best and recommended for further testing and evaluation. This research emphasizes the importance of conserving and utilizing local landraces of buckwheat for sustainable crop improvement, especially in ecologically fragile hill regions like Kinnaur.