Genetic studies in horsegram from NW Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand, India

Evaluation of 26 horsegram accessions alongwith two checks, VLG-1 and VLG- 10, revealed presence of moderate to high range of variation for all the characters. Coefficient of variation was high for pods/plant and yield/plant and low for days to maturity and seeds/pod. High broad sense heritability estimates were obtained for days to 50% flowering (73%), plant height (64%) and yield/plant (60%), and low for seeds/pod (14%). Genetic advance as per cent of mean was highest for pods/plant (19.32) and lowest for seeds/pod (0.14). Pods/plant exhibited highly significant and positive association with seed yield/plant (0.60). Pods/plant and 100-seed weight had positive direct effect, while plant height exhibited negative direct effect on seed yield/plant. The study suggested that emphasis may be placed on pods/plant and 100-seed weight in selecting superior genotypes. Three accessions IC 355888, PGR G-8 and PGR G-18 exhibited significantly higher yield than the best check VLG-10, suggesting scope for genetic enhancement of the crop by exploiting natural variation among the local cultivars and land races.