The genetic divergence of parents is essential for producing segregating populations for several characters, enhancing the chances of selecting better genotypes. The objective of this work was to investigate whether Mahalanobis distance (D²) classifies possible parents for cultivars/lines adapted to local region allowing the choice of the most divergent combinations for several agronomic characters. Ten morpho-agronomic characteristics were utilized for obtaining Mahalanobis distance (D²) from 12 cultivars /lines (Aporé , H-4-7, PF- 9029975, CI-128, Carioca MG, CI-21, Carioca 300V, Ouro Negro, A-285 Rudá, Esal 693, Pérola and IAC Carioca Aruã), evaluated in four seasons (winter /97, waters 97/98 , drought/98 and winter/98). It was utilized a randomized complete block design with three replications. It was verified that the cultivars/lines differed for all characters , and according to different seasons. It was noticed that the genotype/season interaction was significant for six of the ten characters. It was found that the cultivars/ lines were the most contrasting on the basis of the mass of 100 seeds, number of days to flowering , architecture and number of internodes. However, grain yield despite its importance contributed poorly to the divergence due to the lack of variability among the materials studied. Mahalanobis distances (D²) classified the cultivars/lines into two distinct groups. There was an inconsistency in the groupings during the four seasons. Group I was made up of 'ESAL 693' and 'Ouro Negro', which were the most divergent during the four seasons, and group II was made up of the remaining cultivars/lines (PF-9029975, A-285 Rudá , IAC Carioca Aruã, Carioca MG, CI-21, H-4-7, Pérola, CI-128, Carioca 300V and Aporé). Mahalanobis distance (D²) proved to be useful for the identification of divergent parents.
choice of parents; Mahalanobis distance (D²); grouping and Phaseolus vulgaris
