Studies on the Application of Genetic Distance in Parent Selection for Hybridization in Indica Rice Varieties

Twenty-two parents of some popularized and eliminated varieties of Fujian province in recent years were chosen as materials. The multivariate analysis was applied to measure genetic distance among parents. The results showed that: 1. The genetic distance reflect in large degree the genetic divergence among parents. Cluster analysis showed that the female and male parents of popularized varieties were classified into different clusters. Those parents of eliminated crosses were mostly classified into the same cluster. So the selection of parents from different clusters is a prerequisite of successful hybridization. 2. The analysis revealed that appropriate values of genetic distance among parents of the popularized varieties mostly ranged from D2+S to D2 + 3S and those of eliminated crosses were smaller than D2. 3. The genetic distance was clasely related to the maturity of analysed parents. Those parents with larger differences in maturity also differed greatly in genetic distance. The parents with same or similar maturities were easily to be grouped into the same cluster.