Genetic Diversity for Yield and Its Component Traits in Blackgram (Vigna mungo. L Hepper)

Thirty eight genotypes were subjected to genetic divergence by using D2 statistics. The genotypes were grouped into 7 clusters by D2 analysis. Cluster I consisted of maximum accessions (32) followed by cluster II, III IV, V, VI, VII consisted of only 1 accession. The inter-cluster distances were greater than intra-cluster distances, revealing that considerable amount of genetic diversity existed among the accessions. Maximum intra cluster distance was observed in cluster I (56.58) indicating that some genetic divergence still existed among the genotypes. This could be made use of in the yield improvement through recombination breeding. Highest mean values exhibited no. of seeds per plant in cluster II (198.97), days to maturity in cluster VII (93.11), harvest index in cluster V (76.15) and plant height in cluster IV (69.59). The character contribution maximum towards diversity among the accessions were seed yield per plant (18.40%), followed by harvest index (14.32%), biological yield (11.98%), no. of pods per plant (10.76%), pod length (9.80%) and no. of seeds per plant (7.56%). These characters combining with early maturity were the major traits causing genetic divergence among the accessions. It was assumed that maximum mount of heterosis will be manifested in cross combinations involving the parents belonging to most divergent clusters.