Assessment of genetic diversity in Horse gram (Dolichos uniflorus)

Twenty three horse gram accessions were studied during spring seasons of 2008–09 and 2010–11. The results indicated significant differences among the 23 accessions for all characters studied, indicating the presence of sufficient genetic variation. Mahalanobis D2 statistics grouped all the 23 cultivars of horse gram into seven clusters. Cluster I had 11 genotypes, Cluster II had 7 genotypes while clusters III, IV, V, VI and VII contributed as solitary germplasms. Among the seed yield components, test weight (8.7%) followed by seed yield per plant (5.5%) and pod length (2.4%) contributed maximum towards the divergence. Among seed quality parameters, seedling dry weight (50.99%) contributed the maximum to the genetic divergence. The maximum intra cluster distance ranged from 0 (clusters III, IV, V, VI and VII) to 8.15 (cluster II). The maximum inter cluster distance (24.89) was noticed between cluster V (HG 18) and cluster VII (AK 38) indicating that the genotypes included in these clusters had maximum divergence and may be used as promising parents for hybridization programme to obtain better segregants in hose gram.