Study on Genetic Variability and Trait Evaluation in Blackgram (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper) Genotypes

Twenty-one genotypes of blackgram were evaluated to study their genetic variability. Using a Randomized Block Design, three replications of the experiment were conducted during the Kharif season in 2024. For each genotype and replication, five randomly selected plants were used to record the thirteen quantitative characters, among which number of primary branches, harvest index, biological yield per plant, and seedling index showed high genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation, high heritability, and strong genetic advancement. Based on mean performance, the current study concludes that, out of the 21 blackgram genotypes, IC-385718, IC-398744, and IC-393807 had the highest seed yield per plant compared to the control variety Shkher-2. Additionally, it is found that for every character under study, analysis of variance revealed significant variation among the various genotypes. High estimations of GCV and PCV were found for biological yield and the number of pods per plant. Additionally, genetic characteristics showed that days to number of pods per plant and harvest index had strong heritability (broad sense). The number of pods per plant, the seed index, and the harvest index showed a non-significant and positive link with seed yield per plant at both the genotypic and phenotypic levels, according to correlation coefficient analysis. Characteristics such as days to 50% pod setting, plant height, number of major branches per plant, pod length, number of pods per plant, seed index, and biological yield were found to have a direct beneficial impact at both the genotypic and phenotypic levels, according to path coefficient analysis. This suggested that the direct and indirect effects of the aforementioned attributing characters were mostly responsible for seed yield, and that these characters should be prioritized when selecting for blackgram enhancement.