Assessment of Genetic Divergence based on Cluster and Principal Component Analyses for Yield and its Contributing Characters in field Pea (Pisum Sativum L.) Genotypes at Bekoji South Eastern of Ethiopia

The pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an annual grain legume of the Papillonaceae family. It is thought to be originated in the Ethiopia, part of Europe and Asia. It is one of the four most important cultivated legumes along¬side soybean, groundnut and beans. 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. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess genetic diversity by cluster and principal component (PCA) analyses of field pea genotypes. Forty-nine field pea genotypes were evaluated in simple lattice design at Bekoji in 2019 cropping season. The first three principal component axis (PCA), PCA1, PCA2 and PCA3 accounted 37.2, 27.5 and 13.5%, respectively, and a total of 78.2% of the total variation. The cluster analysis grouped the 49 genotypes into eight clusters. Cluster III consisted of 10 genotypes and Cluster I and cluster VI each consisted of 9 genotypes and the three clusters consisted of 57.15% of the total genotypes. The inter-cluster distances between Cluster VIII and other seven clusters were high of which the inter-cluster distance between Cluster VIII and Cluster II, Cluster VIII and Cluster IV was the inter-cluster distances between Cluster VIII and Cluster II were 4420 and 4161, respectively, which was higher than other inter-cluster distances. Cluster VII and VI had higher intra-cluster distance of 1291 and 1057.3 respectively.