Genetic diversity of maize (Zea mays L.) Inbreds under salinity stress

The study was conducted to investigate the genetic diversity of some maize inbreds under salinity stress condition using Mahalanobis’s statistic (D2) and principal component analysis. Analysis of variance showed significant difference for all the characters. Results of multivariate analysis revealed that twenty five inbred lines formed five clusters at 8 dS level of salinity. The highest intra-cluster distance was recorded in cluster III containing eight genotypes and the lowest was in cluster II having one genotype. The highest inter cluster distance was observed between clusters II & V and lowest was between I & III. Cluster II had the highest cluster means for plant height, cob height, above ground dry mass, cob per plant, cob length, and grain yield per plant. Considering cluster distance, inter-genotypic distance and other agronomic performances the genotypes CZ12, CZ19, CZ26, CZ29, CZ31, CZ32, CZ33 & CML470 from cluster III and CZ27, CZ37, CML251 and CML456 from cluster V may be considered as better parents for future hybridization programs to obtain desirable segregate in respect of different yield and yield contributing characters under salinity stress.Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 40(4): 529-536, December 2015