KULDEEP SINGH DANGIAHMAD SAMIM SAMIMY2016-09-022016-09-022014http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/75092In the present investigation, fifty genotypes of blackgram were evaluated to study the genetic diversity present in the experimental material, the extent of association between the yield and its component characters and to estimate direct and indirect effects of various characters. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications at college Farm, College of Agriculture, ANGRAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during Kharif 2012. Analysis of variance indicated the existence of significant differences among the genotypes for yield and its component characters. High GCV and PCV values were observed for plant height, number of primary branches per plant, number of pods per plant, and 100 seed weight. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for plant height, number of primary branches per plant, clusters per plant, number of pods per cluster, number of pods per plant and 100-seed weight indicating the role of additive genes in the inheritance of these traits. Hence these characters could be improved through simple phenotype selection. The characters plant height, number of primary branches per plant, number of pods per cluster, number of pods per plant, pods length and 100 seed weight indicated significant positive association with seed yield. Therefore, possibility exist for simultaneous improvement of these characters along with seed yield. The path coefficient analysis studies revealed that selection for number of pods per cluster, number of primary branches per plant, number of pods per plant and 100-seed weight would directly increase seed yield. Based on the relative magnitude of D2 results and principal component analysis, the genotypes showed considerable amount of genetic diversity and the genotypes were grouped into eight clusters in both the methods. The grouping of genotypes into clusters was at random indicating that geographical isolation might not be the only factor causing genetic diversity. Out of eleven characters studied, number of pods per plant contributed maximum (36%) towards divergence followed by 100-seed weight (35.10%) in D2 analysis. The principal component analysis identified three principal components, which contributed (69.18%) of cumulative variance. Based on D2 values, crosses are proposed between the genotypes of clusters VII (MBG-1054) and cluster VIII (ACM-05-007), which had high cluster distance, for getting high seed weight, more number of pods per plant, early flowering and maturity, more number of pods per cluster and high seed yield per plant. Crossing between cluster VI (LBG-726) and VII (MBG-1054) appeared desirable for getting tall plants, long pods, more number of clusters per plant and more number of pods per plant which ultimately results in high yield. The principal component analysis revealed that crosses between cluster I (MBG-615), VIII (ACM-05-007) and cluster VII (MBG-1054), which had high inter cluster distance could be useful for getting early maturity, tall plants, more number of clusters per plant, long pods, and high seed weight which may leads to high seed yield per plant.enCHARACTER, ASSOCIATION, GENETIC, DIVERGENCE, BLACKGRAMThesis