Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
Thirty-five spontaneous and induced dwarfs of rice were studied for their genetic divergence by D2 analysis of a set of twelve characters related to yield and fitness. The study showed the dwarfs to fall into ten different clusters irrespective of their allelic relationships and geographical area of collection. Plant height followed by area of the second leaf, length of the first internode and test grain weight appeared to contribute maximum to genetic divergence. Genetic drift and selection in different environments seem to cause greater diversity rather than geographic isolation.
