Genetic Diversity In Oil Palm Germplasm As Shown By Hierarchical Clustering Methods

Multivariate statistical tools like cluster analysis have proved useful in characterizing and studying geneticdiversity of germplasm resources. Thus, this study was aimed at classifying the diversity pattern in oil palmgermplasm using two hierarchical clustering methods (single linkage clustering method and Ward’s
method). 595 oil palm genotypes grouped into 44 accessions were morphologically characterized for yieldtraits, bunch quality traits, morphological and physiological traits and fatty acid traits. The two clusteringmethods classified the accessions into eight groups and differ slightly in the assigning of the accessions
into groups. The oil palm germplasm with different characteristics were identified and the genetic distancewithin and between the groups was estimated.