Genetic divergence analysis in faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

A ?eld experiment was conducted at N.D.U.A. & T., Kumarganj, Faizabad, to study genetic diversity in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) landraces. Seventy random germplasm accessions were grown in an augmented block design. The genetic divergence existing in 70 faba bean germplasm collection was studied by employing non-hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis for 11 quantitative characters. The 70 genotypes were grouped into eight distinct clusters, this indicated existence of high degree of genetic diversity among germplasm collection in the present study. The eight clusters in divergence analysis contained genotypes of heterogeneous origin, thereby indicating no parallelism between genetic and geographic diversity. Therefore, crosses between the members of clusters separated by high inter-cluster distance are likely to throw desirable segregants. The different clusters showed considerable differences in intra-cluster group means of eleven characters and genotypes having distinctly different mean performance for various characters were separated into different clusters.