Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.)

The present study on genetic divergence among 33 genotypes in mungbean was carried out using Mahalanobis D2 statistics for yield and its contributing traits, and a total of six clusters were formed. Cluster VI contains the highest number of genotypes (17), followed by clusters I, II, and V with 7, 4, and 3 genotypes, respectively, and clusters III and VI are monogenotypic. The inter-cluster distance was highest between clusters I and VI (250.89) and lowest between clusters I and III (57.74), whereas the intra-cluster distance was highest in cluster IV (63.97) and lowest for clusters III and VI (0.00), which have only one genotype. Cluster III records the highest mean for seed yield per plant, number of pods per plant, and lowest days to maturity, and Cluster VI also records the second highest mean for seed yield per plant, highest seed germination%, speed of germination, and seed viability. The maximum contribution towards genetic diversity was determined by the number of primary branches per plant (12.12%), followed by the number of secondary branches per plant. Genotypes belonging to clusters III and VI may be taken for a hybridization breeding program. Therefore, from the analysis, it was also concluded that genotypes belonging to different clusters separated by a high statistical distance may be used for developing new recombinants and desired traits.