Mutagenic treatments generated a higher magnitude of genetic variability for economic characters in M2 as well as in M3 generations. Number of pods per plant followed by plant height, grain yield per plant and 100-seed weight showed significantly increased variability in both the generations and also in both the cultlvars namely PL-639 and K-75. There was no consistency in the behavior of mean values for different characters. Significant differences between M3 families led to the identification of several desirable families for different economic characters including yield. A wider range of variability along with the lower means for most of the characters in moisture stress conditions revealed the diverse behavior of mutagens under moisture stress condition. As compared to M2, in M3 alongwith the positive shift of mean values both interfamily and overall variances were still significantly higher than the respective control values indicating scope for further selection and improvement of characters governed by polygenes.
