Genetic diversity and agromorphological characterization of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) germplasm provides insight for breeding and crop improvement

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.), a valuable legume with economic and nutritional importance, holds significant potential for genetic improvement. This study evaluated 204 fenugreek accessions, comprising 145 exotic and 55 indigenous germplasms, over two growing seasons at the NBPGR Regional Station, Jodhpur, India, using an augmented block design. Phenotypic traits assessed included days to 50% flowering (DTF), days to maturity (DTM), plant height (PH), number of leaves at 30 and 60 days (NL30, NL60), seed yield (SY), pod length (PL), and thousand-seed weight (TSW). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed highly significant differences (p < 0.01) among accessions, indicating substantial genetic diversity. Genetic parameter analysis highlighted high heritability and genetic advance for traits like the number of leaves, pods per plant, seed yield, and thousand seed weight, suggesting strong additive genetic control. Conversely, traits such as days to maturity and number of branches per plant exhibited low heritability, indicating greater environmental influence. Cluster analysis identified four distinct groups: Cluster I included high-yielding genotypes such as IC-590,113 (71.67 g SY); Cluster II comprised early-maturing lines like EC-510,678; Cluster III focused on pod production, and Cluster IV featured genotypes excelling in seed quality traits, such as EC-510,579 (20.15 g TSW). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) explained 54.1% of total variability through the first two components, with DTF, TSW, and NPPP as significant contributors. This study is novel in integrating large-scale agro-morphological characterization of 204 diverse fenugreek accessions including both exotic and indigenous lines with advanced statistical analyses to reveal the extent of genetic diversity in economic traits of leaves and seeds. The findings identified high heritability and genetic advance for key yield-related traits and distinguished superior multi-trait genotypes such as EC-510,579 and EC-510,613, offering valuable resources for developing dual-purpose, high-yielding, and climate-resilient fenugreek varieties.