Genetic divergence in amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.)

Abstract

Amaranth has been a pseudo-cereal with high nutritive value along with wide range of uses as human food on one hand and as a potherb on the other hand since centuries. Besides having high nutritional quality, their high tolerance to arid conditions and sub soils, are also other attributes to be looked for its future cultivation prospects. To breed adaptable cultivars for Wide agro-climatic zones, selection of suitable parents is important. D2 statistics is a powerful tool for determining the degree of divergence between populations and relative contribution of different components to the total divergence in isolating suitable parents. Such studies are very meager in grain amaranth [1]. Hence, an effort has been made to assess (i) the genetic diversity among parents for hybridization and (ii) to attain the meaningful classification or grouping of germplasm In relation to contribution of each character towards the divergence in a set of 66 genetically diverse genotypes of grain amaranth.