Assessment of Genetic Divergence and Yield-related Traits in Green Gram (Vigna radiata L.)

Green gram is an important pulse crop, but the identification of diverse parental material remains relevant to improving yield-related traits. This investigation assessed genetic divergence among 48 green gram genotypes using 15 quantitative characters, including seed yield per plant. The genotypes were evaluated in a randomised block design with three replications at B. N. College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Biswanath Chariali. Observations were obtained from five randomly selected plants per replication, and divergence was assessed using Mahalanobis D² statistics and Tocher’s clustering method. The genotypes were grouped into six clusters. Cluster III contained the largest number of genotypes (19), followed by cluster IV (16), cluster II (8), cluster I (3) and clusters V and VI (one each). The greatest intra-cluster distance was recorded in cluster IV (144.76), whereas the largest inter-cluster distance occurred between clusters I and V (301.82). Seeds per pod contributed most to divergence (27.93%), followed by 100-seed weight (20.45%); together, these traits accounted for 48.38% of the total. Cluster VI recorded the highest mean seed yield per plant (54.81), while cluster V had the highest mean number of seeds per pod (12.00). These findings identify contrasting clusters and yield-related traits that may inform preliminary parent selection. However, the performance of proposed crosses requires further evaluation before their breeding value can be established.