1Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya, Kalyani-741 235.
*Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar-751 003.
Correlations between primary leaf size measurements and seed size along with components of genetic variance and combining ability variances of primary leaf size characters were studied in an eight parent diallel in mungbean. Phenotypic correlations were positive and highly significant but were mostly lower than the respective genotypic correlations. Regression equation for expected area of primary leaves was Ye= -3.050+0 387 length+4,69 breadth. Additive component of genetic variance (a), was highly significant for length, breadth and area of primary leaves. The dominance components (b1, b2, b3) were highly significant for leaf breadth and area only. The magnitude of the component b1 was the largest amongst all the variance,components for these two characters. General and specific combining ability estimates were highly significant for these characters with the former component being four to five times larger than the latter. Two cultivars `Kharagpur' and P.S. 7′ are the best general combiners for leaf area. High specific combining ability for leaf area was noted in crosses involving parents with high x low or medium x low general combining ability effects.
