Genetic Divergence Studies in Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.)

Twenty-one genotypes of winged bean [Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.] were studied to understand the extent of genetic diversity based on 12 quantitative traits. Mahalanobis D² analysis revealed the presence of high amount of genetic diversity among 21 genotypes, which formed five clusters. Cluster-I had the maximum (7) and cluster-III had the minimum (1) number of genotypes. Intra cluster distance analysis revealed that the Cluster-II had highest intra-cluster distance followed by cluster-I. The inter-cluster divergence (D) was the maximum between the clusters-II and V and the minimum between clusters-I and III. The results indicated that days to first flowering contributed maximum to the total divergence followed by pod weight and days to edible maturity. The Cluster-IV had highest mean value for yield per plant and 100 seed weight and the cluster cluster-V has the highest mean value for number of primary branches per plant. The diverse parents identified could be used for genetic improvement in winged bean.