Genetic divergence in betelvine (Piper betle L.)

摘要

Betelvine is vegetatively propagated for cultivation. Occurrence of flowering, fruiting and proper identification of male and female vines have opened up a new avenue for the improvement of betelvine through hybridization (Raghavendra Rao and Maiti, 6; Maiti and Biswas, 3). A successful hybridization helps in this regard to combine desirable characters (Raghavendra Rao, 7). There has been a need for launching a massive breeding programme based on genetic divergence and to develop hybrids with high heterosis followed by desirable segregants for effective selection. Keeping all these facts in view, the present study was initiated to estimate the genetic divergence present in a set of 16 genotypes of betelvine.