| dc.description.abstract | The objectives of this research were to estimate the genetic divergence among genotypes of
Jatropha curcas L based on phenotypic traits; to determine the relative importance of the
distinguishing traits of genotypes and indicate potential parents to establish an improvement
program for early maturity and high yielding cultivars. Forty nine genotypes of Jatropha curcas
collected from different regions of Kenya and around the world were studied for the following
traits. Plant height, girth diameter, number of branches, leaf type, days to flowering (50%), and
female: male flower ratio, number of fruits per plant and yield (kg), seed weight (100), seed
moisture and oil content. For analysis of genetic divergence Mahalanobis' D2 statistics, canonical
variables and Tocher cluster method were used. The genotypes were grouped into four clusters.
Cluster III, IV, I and II comprised 20, 14, 9 and 6 genotypes, respectively. The analysis further
indicated that the genotypes of common geographical origin or same location were grouped into
different clusters, suggesting a lack of relationship between genetic and geographical diversity.
The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between II and IV followed by I and III which
may serve as potential parents for new gene combination. It has been shown that plant height,
leaf type, branching and flowering contributed most to the genetic divergence among the
genotypes. | en_US |
