Department of Tree Improvement, College of Forestry, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan 173 230 (Himachal Pradesh).
Studies were conducted to assess the magnitude of genetic divergence among 20 seed stands of Bauhinia variegata from different agroclimatic zones of Himachal Pradesh, Panjab and Uttar Pradesh at 12 months growth phase. These studies were also carried out to identify promising superior diverse stands for their utilization in future imfrovement programmes. Genetic divergence assessment by using Mahalanobis D2 analysis led to grouping into nine clusters. Five seed sources fell in cluster I, one in II, two in III, one in IV, seven in V and one each in cluster VI, VII, VIII and IX. Maximum and minimum distances were observed between clusters VII and VIII and clusters V and VI, respectively.
Bauhinia variegata, genetic divergence, D2 statistics, cluster analysis
