This study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity in maize genotypes in the southern of Tocantins. The experiment was conducted at Gurupi - TO, Brazil. The populations were obtained from 70 top cross, with crossing the lineages S6 with a tester, and using 11 cultivars as a witness, totaling 81 genotypes. The experimental design was randomized blocks with two replications. The characteristics assessed were: plant height, ear height, prolificacy, ear length, ear diameter, weight of 100 grains, hectoliter weight and grain yield. Genetic divergence was assessed by multivariate procedures: Mahalanobis distance, clustering methods of Tocher and nearest neighbor. It was found genetic divergence among populations and the formation of non congruent groups between the method of Tocher and nearest neighbor. The yield grain was the major contributor to the genetic diversity and the ear length was the least.
Zea mays; Plant-breeding; Multivariate analysis
