GENETIC DIVERGENCE AND ITS IMPORTANCE FOR BREEDING ONION (ALLIUM CEPA L.)

In order to research the genetic divergence of certain onion traits, the trial has been set up at the Institute for Vegetable Crops in Smederevska Palanka. The trial has been performed in random block system with five replicas. The research materials were 10 varieties of a different geographical origin. The research has been processed using hierarch cluster analysis. Nine traits of onion have been analysed in this paper. Using a method of cluster analysis, a dendogram of phenotype differences of analysed traits has been constructed. The dendogram shows grouping of genotypes on different hierarchical levels, according to similarity and differences for researched traits. The results helped to avoid numerous preliminary researches and shortened the selection process, which is very important for perennial cultures such as onion.