Morphological Characterization as Selection Criteria for Yield Improvement in Greengram (Vigna Radiata L. Wilczek)

Abstract

The present investigation entitled, "Morphological characterization as selectio~,. crit~ria for yield improvement in greengram [Vigna radiata (L.) Wil.cz~~] 1nvol~1ng .. twenty th.ree genotypes was undertaken to examine the genetic vanab1hty, hentab1hty, genet1c advance, correlation coefficient and path coefficient analysis. All the twenty three greengram genotypes were tested in randomized block design with 3 replications during kharif 2012-13. Observations were recorded for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height (em), branches per plant, pods per plant seeds per pod, 1 00-seed weight (g), biological yield per plant (g), seed yield per plant (g) and harvest index. Analysis of variance revealed ·substantial amount of variability ·among the genotypes for all the characters, under study, indicated wide spectrum of variability among the genotypes. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance were observed for plant height, pods per plant, seeds per pod, 100-seed weight, biological yield per plant and harvest index. Improvement in yield can be made by selecting these yield contributed traits having high heritability coupled with high genetic advance. Phenotypic correlation was of higher magnitude as compare to their corresponding genotypic correlation in most of the character combination. Seed yield were found to be positive and significantly correlated with number of branches per plant, pods per plant, seeds per pod, 1 00-seed weight, biological yield per plant and harvest index. Thus any selection based on these characters will enhance performance and improvement in greengram. Path coefficient analysis showed that pods per plant, 1 00-seed weight, biological yield per plant and seeds per pod were the most important character controlling directly to seed yield and plant height, branches per plant, harvest index, biological yield and pods per plant indirectly, therefore in order to exercise a suitable higher than that of phenotypic correlation in most of the character combination. Seed yield was found to be positive and significantly correlated with pods per plant, pod length, pods per cluster, branches per plant, 1 00-seed weight, and harvest index. Thus any selection based on these characters will enhance performance and improvement in greengram. Path coefficient analysis showed that pods per plimt, plant height, branches per plant, biological yield per plant, pods per cluster, pod length, 1 00-seed weight, harvest index, clusters per plant, days to maturity and days to selection programme it would be worth to concentrate on these character.