Assessment of the genetic components and trait associations in diverse set of fieldpea (Pisum sativum L.) genotypes

One hundred and 40 genotypes of fieldpea were used to assess the genetic divergence for various agronomic traits. The study revealed that all the accessions were significantly different for the traits and a wide range of variability exists for most of the traits. Correlation studies exhibited that seed yield had positive significant correlation with most of the traits. Cluster analysis classified 140 genotypes into 12 distinct groups. A large number of genotypes (30) were placed in cluster IV followed by cluster III with 24 genotypes. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters III and IV indicating the possibility of high heterotic effect if the individuals from these clusters are cross-bred. Principal component analysis yielded 12 Eigen vectors and PCA analysis revealed significant variations among traits with seven major principal components explaining about 90% of variations. The estimates of Eigen value associated with the principal components and their respective relative and accumulated variances explained 50.16% of total variation in the first two components. The characters with highest weight in component first were biological yield, pods/plant, yield/plant and branches/plant which explained 34.22% of the total variance. The results of principal component analysis were closely in line with those of the cluster analysis. The grouping of genotypes and hybridization among genetically diverse genotypes of different cluster would be helpful in broadening the genetic base of fieldpea and producing desirable recombinants for developing new fieldpea varieties. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjb.v43i3.21605 Bangladesh J. Bot. 43(3): 323-330, 2014 (December)