Abstract

                                The genetic divergence among seven parents and their twelve hybrids of cowpea was assessed using Mahalanobis D statistic. Ten cbaracters were studied and utilised for multi variate analysis. The genotypes were grouped into seven different clusters. The characters namely days to 50 per cent flowering. 100 grain weight and plant height contributed maximum towards genetic divergence, The seven parents fell into five clus- ters. The twelve hybrids also fall into five different clusters The genotypes from diverge groups such as KC 199 and KC 195 could be utilized in the breeding programme for improvement of yield in cowpea.

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