Genetic Diversity Analysis of Ethiopian Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) Genotypes for Seed Yield and Oil Content

Genetic diversity is highly significant for the improvement of many crop species including coriander. Eighty one Ethiopian coriander genotypes were evaluated in 9x9 simple lattice design with two replication for genetic diversity analysis in yield and yield related traits at Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia during 2011 main cropping season. Data were collected on 21 traits. The studied genetic divergence of the 81 coriander genotypes were grouped in to eight clusters using Mahalanobis D2 statistics. The largest cluster (II) and the smallest cluster (VIII), contains about 51.8% and 2.4% of studied genotypes respectively. Maximum and minimum intra cluster distance were observed in cluster II and VIII (D2=7.48 and 1.31 respectively). Maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster VI and VIII (D2=329.85) and the minimum distance was observed between cluster I and IV (D2=19.02), suggesting the possibility of getting suitable genotypes for hybridization program among the genotypes. In conclusion, despite the diverse favorable agro- ecologies, germplasm availability and released opportunities, research attention given to this crop was very low till recent time. The present investigation indicated that there is wide range of genetic diversity in the tested germplasm for most of the characters studied. Hybridization among accessions from different clusters identified in this study could lead to considerable genetic improvement by following appropriate selection strategies in the segregating generations.