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The aim of the study was to identify genotypes with superior phenotypic performance, level and pattern of phenotypic diversity, and major contributing traits to the diversity of the test materials. Sixteen phenotypic traits of 81 sugarcane genotypes were analyzed using univariate and multivariate statistical methods. The genotypes were planted across two locations using a partially balanced lattice design with two replications. The study depicted the existence of substantial variation among the test materials in all the studied traits. The selected top 5% clones for cane yield, sucrose content and sugar yield were as follows: B694–11, B658–10, B707–1 and B572–1; B552–11, B498–9, B552–21 and B564–1; and B552–11, B549–10, B658–10 and B572–1, respectively. Sugarcane genotypes of clusters V and VII were the most divergent as demonstrated by their greatest intercluster distances, while sugar yield, cane yield and recoverable sucrose percent were the major contributors for the diversity of the test materials as revealed by PCA based on all of the studied traits. This suggests that the most divergent genotypes could be used as donor for hybridization, while those with greater mean values of the major contributing traits could be targeted for selection breeding.
Tolera et al. (Tue,) studied this question.