Genetic variation, character association and evaluation of mungbean genotypes for agronomic and yield components

Abstract

Abstract: Forty genotypes of mungbean were evaluated to compare the genetic divergence and association among agronomic and yield characteristics. Analysis of variance indicated highly significant (p < 0.01) differences for all the traits except for 1000 seed weight. The phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation was the highest for grain yield per plant, followed by pod length. High broad sense heritability (> 60 %) along with high genetic advance was observed for total yield per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod and plant height, indicating that these characteristics would be best for phenotypic selection. A significant negative correlation was observed between days to flowering and total yield per plant. Positive correlations were observed between plant height, pod length and 1000 seed weight with total yield per plant. Multivariate analysis showed that the first three principal components cumulatively accounted for 69.77 % of the total variation. The present findings could be useful in selecting superior genotypes in mungbean breeding programmes.