Department of Plant Breeding, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar 263145.
* Present address: Plant Breeding, Directorate of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500030.
The genetic divergence among 25 elite lines of triticale along with Sonalika cultivar of bread wheat was assessed employing Mahalanobis' D2 analysis based on 16 characters. Four dusters were formed. Cluster I was the largest with 23 lines. The remaining three clusters with oneline each were highly diverse from one another. The spike length, days to heading and maturity, plant height, spikes per 0.5 m2, grain hardiness, tillers per plant and grain yield had size able individual contribution towards genetic divergence amonglines. Results revealed the narrow genetic base among elite lines in triticale. The need for widening the genetic base by integrating wheat germplasm into triticale crossing programme has been emphasized.
Cluster, D2 statistic, genetic diversity, triticale
