Legume Research - An International Journal

Seventy four diverse genotypes of blackgram were studied under rice fallow condition for yield and its component traits. High genotypic variability was observed for branches per plant, clusters per plant, pods per plant, biological yield and seed yield along with high heritability and genetic advance, suggesting effective improvement of these characters through a simple selection programme. The genotypes were grouped into five clusters by Mahalanobis' D² analysis. Rice fallow cultivation restricted the fullest expression of genetic diversity among the genotypes. Based on cluster mean values, the genotypes, OBG 4 and KKB 98001 were identified as the suitable parents for hybridization programme. The characters, pods per plant, 100 seed weight and biological yield contributed more for genetic divergence.