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*Corresponding author's e-mail: ssalgotra@gmail.com and address
Genetic diversity of seventeen chickpea genotypes was studied through Mahalanobis D2, Tocher's Method. The genotypes under study fall into five clusters. The cluster-IInd contained the highest number of genotypes (08) and Cluster IV and V contained the lowest (01). Cluster-II produced the highest mean value for days to maturity. The inter-cluster distances were much higher than the intra-cluster distances. Cluster-V exhibited the highest intra-cluster distance while the lowest distance was observed in cluster-IV and V The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster-III and V while the lowest was between cluster-I and IV Considering all the characters, it is suggested that the genotypes 81-0-800, C-306, 96907, C-235 and SCS-3 could be used as parents for future breeding programmes to develop high yielding varieties of chickpea. As per AMMI model, two genotypes i.e. C-81 and 96911 were identified as having wider adaptability along with higher seed yield per plant.
Chickpea, D2 statistics, Genetic divergence, Intra and inter-cluster distance