Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
JK Dawane, JE Jahagirdar, BK Dawane and DG Kale

Abstract:
Generally plant breeders select the parents on the basis of phenotypic divergence, but for effective breeding, the knowledge of genetic diversity among the parents with respect to the characters which are to be improved is essential. The present investigation entitled, “Genetic Divergence Studies in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)” has been carried out. The genotypes under study fall into seven clusters. The cluster I was with the highest number of genotypes (14) followed by cluster II (10), clusters III & V (06), cluster VI (05) and IV and VII had one genotype. The maximum inter cluster distance (D =557.89) was observed between cluster VII and cluster VI, while the minimum inter cluster distance (D = 78.36) was observed between clusters VI & IV. Considering all the characters, it was suggested that the genotypes in clusters VII and cluster VI are suitable for further breeding programme.