Analysis of genetic divergence in menthol mint (Mentha arvensis L.)

Abstract

Sixteen genotypes of menthol mint (Mentha arvensis) were evaluated for five quantitativetraits namely, plant height, number of internodes, length of internodes, leaf:stem ratio andoil content at Pantnagar (Uttaranchal). These genotypes were grouped into five clusters onthe basis of Mahalanobis D2 analysis. The characters namely, length of internode and num-ber of internodes had maximum contribution towards genetic divergence. The mean perfor-mance of the genotypes in each cluster and their D2 values revealed that genotypes can beselected to obtain superior half-sib progenies.