National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources Regional Station, Shillong 793 013 (Meghalaya).
1Present address: NBPGR Regional Station, Phagli, Shimla 171004 (Himachal Pradesh).
Fifty genotypes of rice (Oryza sativa L.) from the Himalayan belt were studied for their genetic divergence for a set of ten characters using Mahalanobis D2 statistics. The genotypes were grouped into 11 clusters. The genetic diversity was not related to geographic diversity. Based on divergence and superior cluster means, crosses between genotypes from cluster IX and I, II, VI, XI may result in superior types.
Rice, genotype, genetic divergence, heterosis
