Morphological variation and characterization of local mungbean germplasm

Abstract

Sixty one mungbean (green gram) accessions were evaluated for 12 agro morphological traits under field conditions during 2011 Yala seasons at the Grain Legumes and Oil Crops Research and Development Centre at Angunakolapelessa, Sri Lanka. Data were collected on quantitative agronomic characteristics, yield and yield parameters including days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, days to first pod maturity, days to maturity, plant height, pod length, number of seeds per pod, pod length, number of seeds per plant, thousand seed weight, first yield, second yield, total yield and yield per plant. All the traits were analyzed using the SPSS version 20 software. The principal component analysis sorted the accessions into three principal components within cluster similarities and inter-cluster variations. Over 70% of the total variance was explained by the resulted principal components. At rescaled cluster distance of five, 61 mungbean accessions were made into seven clusters. The first and second clusters contained similar number of genotypes (nine) and three recommended varieties ‘MI-05’, ‘MI-06’ and ‘Ari’ were grouped into cluster II. The cluster VII was the largest and most diverse consisting 18 mungbean genotypes with the variety ‘Harsha’. This clustering pattern can be used for the selection of parental materials with diverse characteristics for the effective utilization, conservation of the genetic recourses and also be useful in variety development in future mungbean breeding programmes.