Differences in plant growth, dry matter partitioning, yield and water use efficiency of mungbean×black gram hybrids under rainfed conditions

Six hybrids, three each with foliage morphology similar to mungbean and black gram were evaluated for plant growth and grain yield. Mungbean type produced higher yield than black gram type hybrids. Hybrids T1–18 and T2–36 showed rapid root growth and greater allocation of dry matter to grains. Biomass was positively related to total moisture use and seed yield to daily crop transpiration. Combined contribution of number of seeds pod⁻¹, seed size and pods plant⁻¹ (R²=0.998) or the number of grains pod⁻¹ and seed size (R²=0.997) towards grain yield indicated our primary concern to focus attention to improve the seed size of these legumes under rainfed conditions.