Assessment of Genetic Variability and Character Association for Seed Yield and Its Contributing Traits in Urdbean [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] Genotypes

Abstract

The study assessed the magnitude of genetic variability and character association for seed yield and its contributing traits in urdbean (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper) genotypes. Thirty-five genotypes of urdbean were evaluated in a Randomised Block Design with three replications, and observations were recorded for thirteen quantitative traits. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the studied traits, confirming the presence of substantial variability among the evaluated genotypes. The genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was highest for seed yield per plant (33.62%), followed by harvest index (28.53%) and number of pods per plant (21.87%). Broad-sense heritability ranged from 55.20% for pod length to 89.72% for seed yield per plant. High heritability accompanied by high genetic advance as a percentage of the mean was observed for seed yield per plant, harvest index and number of pods per plant, indicating better prospects for selection. Seed yield per plant showed significant positive genotypic correlations with harvest index (0.949), number of clusters per plant (0.885), number of pods per plant (0.877), biological yield per plant (0.661), number of seeds per pod (0.590) and pod length (0.505). Harvest index had the highest direct effect on seed yield per plant, followed by biological yield per plant. These results indicate that traits with high genetic variability and strong associations with seed yield can be prioritised in selection to improve urdbean productivity.