Genetic Divergence and Identification of Promising Parents for Seed Yield and Nutritional Quality Traits in Linseed

Identification of genetically divergent parents is essential for broadening the genetic base and enhancing breeding efficiency in linseed. Therefore, a panel of 51 linseed ( Linum usitatissimum L.) entries, comprising 45 genotypes and six check cultivars, was evaluated using Mahalanobis D² statistics to characterize genetic diversity and identify superior parental combinations for seed yield and nutritional quality improvement. Ten agronomic and seed quality traits, including days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, branches per plant, capsules per plant, 1000-seed weight, seed yield per plant, omega-6, omega-3 fatty acid, and secoisolariciresinoldiglucoside (SDG) content, were recorded. The genotypes were grouped into eight distinct clusters, indicating substantial genetic diversity. Cluster VIII exhibited the highest intra-cluster distance (0.697), whereas the greatest inter-cluster divergence was observed between Clusters V and VI (17.056), followed by Clusters V and VIII (16.486). Cluster VII recorded the highest omega-3 fatty acid (55.65%) and SDG (10.94 mg g⁻¹) contents, while Cluster I exhibited the highest seed yield per plant (4.56 g) and Cluster VI the highest 1000-seed weight (6.83 g). The integration of genetic divergence with cluster mean performance enabled the identification of promising parental combinations for simultaneous improvement of seed yield and nutritional quality. These findings provide a practical framework for parent selection in linseed breeding programmes, although multi-environment validation will be essential to confirm the stability of the identified genotypes.