ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC VARIABILITY AND DIVERGENCE STUDIES IN COWPEA (Vigna unguiculata L.) GERMPLASM LINES
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Date
2023-12-27
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Abstract
The present study was carried out during kharif 2019 to evaluate 197 cowpea
germplasm lines for 10 quantitative traits at College of Agriculture, Kalaburagi using
Augmented randomized block design. Analysis of variance revealed significant variation for
all the traits under study except number of pods per plant. The phenotypic coefficient of
variation and genotypic coefficient of variation were observed high for plant height, number
of primary branches per plant, number of pods per plant, test weight, dry matter, seed yield
per plant and seed yield per hectare. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as
per cent of mean was observed for characters like plant height, number of pods per plant, dry
matter, test wight, seed yield per plant and seed yield per hectare. Significant positive
correlation was found between seed yield per plant and days to 50 per cent flowering, days to
physiological maturity, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, pod length, test
weight, dry matter. Whereas, number of primary branches per plant showed negative
correlation with seed yield per plant. Test weight recorded highest positive direct effect on
seed yield per plant followed by number of pods per plant and number of seeds per plant.
While, days to physiological maturity exhibited high negative direct effect on seed yield per plant. Genetic divergence study using Mahalanobis D2 statistics grouped 197 genotypes into
ten clusters. Cluster III was largest comprising of 42 genotypes followed by cluster I with 33
genotypes. The inter-cluster distance was maximum between cluster IX and cluster X. The
highest intra-cluster distance was observed in cluster X and lowest intra-cluster distance was
observed in cluster VIII. The seed yield (kg/ha) contributed maximum towards the
divergence. This information would help in selection of desirable genotypes for designing
cowpea improvement programme.