Genetic Divergence In Sorghum Hybrids

Abstract

Genetic divergence in 34 genotypes of sorghum (10 parents and their 8 hybrids with their F₁, F₂ and F₃ generations) was studied taking seven characters, using Mahalanobis D² statistics. All genotypes were grouped in 12 clusters. No specific distribution of parents and their F₁ hybrids in the clusters was observed, however, in their segregating generations, they were grouped according to their male parents. The parents and their F₁s exhibited greater diversity which got sinked during selfing suggesting that diversity can be created by hybridization but the selfing pro-genies do not exhibit enough diversity. Yield per plant, number of leaves and days to maturity contributed maximum towards genetic diversity.