Genetic variability, association studies and genetic divergence in Indian fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) varieties

Indian fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) varieties were biometrically studied for seed yield and yield contributing traits to assess genetic variability, character association and genetic divergence. Highly significant differences between varieties for all the studied traits were observed. Pooled results illustrated high estimates of PCV along with GCV for number of branches per plant, test weight, number of pods per plant, number of nodules per plant, plant height and seed yield per plant. High heritability along with genetic advance was recorded for plant height and test weight. Association studies showed highly significant positive correlation and high direct effect of test weight, plant height and number of pods per plant on seed yield. Diversity analysis grouped the set of 17 varieties into two clusters and there was lack of parallelism between genetic and geographic diversities. Intra cluster distance was the highest in cluster I than cluster II. Test weight (37.50%) contributed the maximum to total divergence, followed by plant height.