Genetic divergence in almond (Prunus amygdalus Batsch) growing in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh

To assess the extent of divergence the nut and kernel characters, 63 almond genotypes and some exotic cultivars were subjected to divergence model (Non-Hierarchical Euclidean Cluster Analysis). The results indicated that the nut weight, nut width, nut height, nut thickness, shell thickness, kernel weight, kernel width, kernel height and kernel thickness ranged from 0.65 to 2.68 g, 16.49 to 44.25 mm, 11.50 to 21.02 mm, 9.78 to 15.42 mm, 0.60 to 2.81 mm, 0.25 to 1.21 g, 11.60 to 30.56 mm, 7.43 to 14.43 mm, 5.04 to 8.08 mm and 27.02 to 73.04 per cent, respectively with their respective coefficient of variability as 30.34, 16.98, 14.01, 10.73, 31.62, 29.85, 18.24, 14.84, 9.81 and 26.73 per cent. Maximum value of eigen root (4.794) was obtained from first component which explained 43.94 per cent of total variation. All the 63 genotypes got clustered into 8 clusters. The number of genotypes ranged from 4 in cluster 8 to 14 in cluster 5. Genotypes of cluster 2 had maximum average nut weight (2.35 g) while nut height (19.72 mm), nut thickness (14.17 mm), kernel weight (1.08 g), kernel width (24.16 mm), kernel height (13.45 mm) and kernel percentage (67.51%) were highest in cluster 8. Genotypes of cluster 4 had minimum shell thickness and maximum nut width (32.35 mm). Many seedling trees had characters similar to commercial cultivars and they stayed together in same clusters. The maximum intra cluster distance (8.332) was observed between genotypes of cluster 7 and 8. Nut weight was positively and significantly correlated with all traits except kernel percentage where it was negatively correlated.