ANALYSIS OF VARIATION AMONG CORCHORUS OLITORIUS (L) GENOTYPES BY FACTOR ANALYSIS AND PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS (PCA)

Multivariate statistical methods are utilized to estimate accurate genetic diversity in crop breeding programmes. This study aimed at investigating genetic divergence in fifteen genotypes of Jute (Corchorus olitorius) and determines the characters responsible for the variation using Factor and Principal component analysis. The fifteen genotypes were collected from different locations within southern Nigeria. The experiment was carried out at the Lagos State University Botanical Garden using a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The collected data were subjected to Factor Analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to evaluate the patterns of variation in these accessions. The PCA accounted for over 92% of the total variation in the first five PCs while Factor Analysis accounted for over 86% of the variation in the first four factors. Contributions’ of number of leaves per plant, plant height, number of branches, stipule length, leaf length, petiole length and blade length as identified by the two analysis methods leads to the conclusion that these traits contributes more to the total variation observed in the fifteen genotypes of Corchorus and therefore can be used in discriminating among the genotypes. The configuration of the genotypes along the axes of PC1 and PC2 identified genotype NG/179 as high yielding genotypes in terms of number of leaves and plant height and therefore can be selected directly. The results, as captured by the complementarity effect of the principal component analysis and factor analysis, suggest the existence of genetic variability among the genotypes.