Department of Plant Breeding, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Forty varieties of cowpea mainly selected from erstwhile Punjab State were studied for genetic divergence using Mahalanobis D2—technique. In the present investigation seed size was found to be most important character contributing toward genetic diversity while remaining traits made little contribution. It was observed that wide genetic diversity was present in the material selected from the same geographic region. Such genatically diverse lines screened by the use of multi-variate analysis could be effectively used in hybrid breeding programmes. Thus it is concluded that multi-variate analysis of quantitative traits is a powerful tool for measuring genetic divergence amongst the lines selected even from the same geographic origin.
