Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The present investigation entitled was carried out during the Rabi season of 2024-25 at the Research Farm of the Agricultural Botany Section, College of Agriculture, Nagpur. Sixty one genotype with three check were evaluated for genetic divergence to identify potential parents for lathyrus breeding programme aimed at yield improvement. Mahalanobis D² statistics for ten characters viz. days to 50% flowering (on plot basis), days to maturity (on plot basis), plant height (cm), number of primary branches plant-1, number of seeds pod-1, number of pods plant-1, 100 seed weight (g) and seed yield plant-1, harvest index (%), ODAP content (%) were used in this study for computing genetic divergence. The analysis of dispersion for ten characters using Wilk's criterion, revealed highly significant difference between genotypes for all ten characters. The sixty four genotypes were grouped into fourteen clusters by Tocher's method. Cluster I was largest comprising of 41 genotypes. Cluster XIII possessed highest intra cluster distance (D² = 28.61). The characters like days to number of seeds pod-1, number of pods plant-1, and yield plant-1, number of primary branches plant-1, number of seeds pod-1 were identified to contribute maximum towards genetic divergence from canonical analysis studied, cluster mean estimate and contribution of individual characters to divergence. Ten inter cluster combination were identified for selecting promising diverse genotypes to be included in crossing programme to get potential variety. Twenty seven genotypes viz. AKL-19, NLK-94, NLK-67, NLK-62, NLK-51, EC-209081, NLK-39, NLK-54, NLK-74, NLK-48, EC-2609071, NLK-6, AKL-7, JRL-16, BIOR-231, NLK-49, IC-120472, NLK-37, IC-120491, NLK-40, KH-1, NLK-102, NLK-5, PUSA-24, AKL-12, NLK-44, BIOR-222 were identified as potential parents and can be attempted to use these genotypes in crossing programme.
Language: English
Topic: Genetics and Plant Breeding
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7203585673