Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India.
The nature and magnitude of genetic diversity was studied in set of 2-R and 6-R barley varieties using Mahalanobis's D2 statistic and canonical analysis. 36 varieties could be grouped into 9 clusters of which 2-R varieties were grouped in 7 clusters and 6-R types in 2 widely d ivergent clusters. Maximum inter-cluster distances were observed between 2-R and 6-R clusters. Genotypes with same parentage were grouped into different clusters, whereas genotypes with diverse origins occupied position in the same cluster. No relationship between genetic diversity and geographic origin could be observed Importance of multidirectional selection in early generations has been suggested.
