Association and Variability of Morphological, Yield and Yield Attributing Traits in Mung Bean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilezek]

Abstract

The efficacy of the selection process is greatly enhanced by using appropriate selection indices. The knowledge of the genetic variability and relationship among various traits affecting seed yield is essential for crop improvement. The present study was undertaken to evaluate 51 diverse genotypes of mungbean for the estimation of genetic variability, heritability & genetic advance, the correlation coefficient for eleven traits and their association level with yield. Results of the analysis of variance revealed significant differences for all the characters studied and, thereby offered an ample opportunity for selecting suitable genotypes with desired traits. High PCV and GCV were observed for seed yield per plant (56.05/47.60), primary branches per plant (40.27/32.38), pods per plant (36.31/32.93) and biological yield per plant (38.46/33.17) indicating the role of additive gene action in the expression of these characters. Analysis of correlation revealed that the magnitude of genotypic correlation coefficients was higher than the phenotypic correlation coefficients suggesting the existence of inherent association among the traits studied. High heritability was observed for plant height (0.89) followed by pods per plant (0.82) and seeds per pod ((0.81), indicating the less influence of environment on these characters. Seed yield was found to be positively correlated with primary branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and biological yield per plant. Path coefficient analysis revealed the importance of pods per plant and, the number of seeds per pod, while the highest negative direct effect was recorded for the harvest index.