Numerical Analysis of Variation Among Accessions of Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench], Malvaceae

Abstract

Thirty quantitative and qualitative characters were observed on 20 accessions of okra which consisted of 19 accessions from different geographical areas of Nigeria and one accession from India. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Single Linkage Cluster Analysis (SLCA) were employed to analyse the variation patterns in these accessions. The first three principal components accounted for 49.94% of the total variation while the first five axes accounted for 65.7% SLCA summarized the relationships among the accessions at various levels of similarity into a dendrogram, while the accessions were sorted into six distinct groups by the FASTCLUS technique and the mean percentage similarity between some groups suggested some degree of phenetic resemblance.