Spatial Diversity in Indian Wheat and its Determinants

Spatial diversity of crop varieties is an indicator of richness of genetic base, and has a bearing on productivity and sustainability of crop production. This paper has analysed the spatial distribution of wheat varieties in five Indian states using three spatial diversity concepts, to measure the richness, inverse dominance and evenness. All the three indices have revealed a higher spatial diversity in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and a lower diversity in the states of Punjab and Haryana. The effect of varietal demand and supply factors, and agro-ecologies on the spatial distribution has been established through Zellner's seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) estimation.