Abstract:
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important food crops Ethiopia. Genetic
variability is the basis of all crop improvement programs. Research on potato genetic
variability and association of traits in the study area was limited. Hence, this research was
conducted at Adet in 2018/19 with the objective of assessing the extent and pattern of genetic
variability of potato genotypes for yield and yield related traits. A total of 36 potato genotypes
were evaluated for 18 quantitative traits in simple lattice design. ANOVA revealed highly
significant (p < 0.001) difference among the tested potato genotypes for all quantitative traits
except stem number per hill. Total tuber yield and marketable tuber yield were ranged from
13 to 52.23 and 11.95 to 46.16 (t ha-1) respectively. Genotype CIP-308522.501, CIP-
308526.502, CIP-308517.500, CIP-308500.01 and CIP-308526.501 gave higher total tuber
yield (t ha-1) than the released potato varieties. The PVC and GCV ranged between 4.56 to
56.01 % and 2.32 to 40.66%, H2b and GAM ranged from 25.93 to 97.05% and 2.44 to
82.64% respectively. Most of the traits had positive correlation with total tuber yield (t ha-1)
at both phenotypic and genotypic level. Marketable, unmarketable tuber number per hill and
average tuber weight (g tuber -1) had highly positive direct effect on the total tuber yield (t ha-
1) at both genotypic and phenotypic level. The studied potato genotypes were grouped in to 5
distinct clusters. Cluster V was the largest cluster which consisted of 11 genotypes (30.56%)
and cluster III comprise 3 genotypes (8.33%). Clusters I and IV having divergence distance
can be used as a parent for further breeding or crossing. The highest and lowest intra cluster
distance was observed in cluster III (4.97) and V (2.37) respectively.. A total of six PC with an
Eigen value >1 accounted for 78.22% of the total variation in the studied potato genotypes.
Key words: cluster, correlation, variability, heritability, potato