Genetic divergence in dolichos bean (Dolichos lablab l. var. typicus prain) genotypes for yield and yield contributing traits

Mahalanobis D2 statistics was used to study the genetic divergence for 19 characters among 48 genotypes of Indian bean. Genotypes were grouped in to eight clusters on the basis of relative magnitude of D2 values. The highest number of genotypes (14) appeared in cluster III. The maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and cluster VI followed by cluster IV and VIII. The minimum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster I and cluster IV. Maximum intra cluster distance was in cluster V followed by cluster III. The mean value for most of the traits was highest in cluster VIII. Among the yield contributing characters, the maximum contribution towards divergence was made by protein content followed by number of flowers per inflorescence, pod length and number of pods per plant. Hence, hybridization between cluster IV (NSJ-87-2) and VI (NSJ-87-1/A) followed by cluster IV (NSF 87-2) and VIII (ARKA JAY) could be utilized for getting the superior recombinants or transgress segregants in segregating generations.