The objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic diversity in a segregating population F3 of castor bean in the Recôncavo Baiano using the Ward-MLM multivariate technique. The experiment was conducted at the Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia between April 2009 and March 2010. The 259 genotypes used were derived from crosses between the BRS 149 Nordestina, BRS 188 Paraguaçu, EBDA MPA-17, Sipeal 28 and Mirante 10 varieties. The design was in randomized complete blocks with four replicates in spacing of 3x1 m. The number of days to the appearance of the first female flower, plant height (cm), number of racemes emitted per plant, total length of the raceme (cm), raceme weight (g), fruit weight per plant (g), number of seeds per raceme, number of seeds per plant, weight of seeds per raceme (g), productivity (kg ha-1) and oil content in seeds (%) were evaluated. The formation of four groups occurred as follows: Group I with 84 genotypes, Group II with 142 genotypes, Group III with 15 genotypes and Group IV with 18 genotypes. The Ward-MLM strategy allows for an appropriate clustering between the genotypes, and the variables that contribute most to the divergence are: fruit weight per plant, weight of seed per raceme, raceme weight and productivity.
Castor beans; Plants-genetic improvement; Modified location model
