Genetic divergence study in introgressed F<subscript>6</subscript> progenies from interspecific cross of (G. arboreum x G. anomalum) x G. barbadense.

The present investigation was conducted with an objective to study genetic diversity available in 41 diverse F6 progenies of interspecific cross with six checks of cotton, evaluated during Summer, 2009 by using Mahalanobis D2 method. The genotypes were grouped intofourteen clusters indicating presence of appreciable amount of diversity and maximum number of progenies (22) were grouped into cluster-I followed by cluster-III, with thirteen progenies and remaining clusters were solitary. The highest intra cluster distance was observed between the progenies of cluster-III and included more diverse genotypes than the remaining clusters. The highest inter cluster D2 value was observed between clusters XI and XIV. Among the characters studied the highest contribution to the divergence was noted for short fibre index followed by plant height and seed cotton yield per plant. This study helps to understand diversity in the progenies and to identify appropriate genetic material for improvement of specific characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]