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The genetic diversity among 85 land races were evaluated for ten characteristics by using Mahalanobis D2 Statistics. The genotypes were grouped into six clusters based on relative magnitude of D2 values. Cluster-I was the largest comprising of forty three landraces, and cluster-V and -VI were monogenotypic clusters. Maximum inter-cluster distance was exhibited between clusters-II and -VI. The five prominent characters, total number of filled grains per panicle, grain zinc concentration, days to fifty per cent flowering, plant height and protein content, mainly contributed towards total divergence. Cluster-V has highest mean value for panicle length and number of tillers per plant. Cluster-III hashighest grain yield per plant and cluster-VI has highergrain iron concentration and protein percentage. The maximum contribution towards genetic divergence was observed in number of grains per panicle followed by grain zinc concentration. Thus, this study evaluated the diverse landraces useful in selection of parents during hybridization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]