Clustering on principal component analysisfor quantitative traits in field pea (Pisumsativum L.) genotypes at arsi Highlands of Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, field pea (Pisumsativum L.) is the major source of protein for resource poor farmers. The development of varieties for yield and disease resistance is one of the important activities to support farmers and improve the productivity of the crop. Forty-nine field pea genotypes were evaluated in simple lattice design at Asasa in 2019 cropping season. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess genetic diversity by cluster and principal component (PCA) analyses of field pea genotypes.The first three principal component axis (PCA), PCA1, PCA2 and PCA3 accounted 35.4, 27.4 and 13.3%, respectively, and a total of 76.1% of the total variation.The cluster analysis grouped the 49 genotypes into six clusters. Cluster II and Cluster IV consisted of each 10 genotypes and Cluster VI consisted of 11 genotypes and the three clusters consisted of 76.1% of the total genotypes.The inter-cluster distances between Cluster V and VI were high of which the inter-cluster distance between Cluster VI and Cluster I, Cluster VI and Cluster II and Cluster VI and Cluster III.The inter-cluster distances between Cluster VI and Cluster I and cluster 5 and I were 3501.7 and 3341.9, respectively, which was higher than other inter-cluster distances. Cluster I and VI had higher intra-cluster distance of 1469.6 and 503.7, respectively. The study showed the existence of reasonable genetic variability among the field pea genotypes that could be exploited in breeding programs.