Genetic variability, trait association and path analysis of yield and yield components in greengram [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek]

An experiment was conducted to study the extent of variability, interrelationship and direct and indirect effects of component characters on seed yield in greengram during the kharif 2016 for 12 quantitative characters. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences for all the characters studied, indicating sufficient variation among genotypes. The magnitude of genotypic coefficient of variation and phenotypic coefficient of variation was high for primary branches per plant and clusters per plant, indicating the presence of sufficient variation in these traits. Clusters per plant, pods per plant, seeds per pod, seed yield per plant, pod length, primary branches per plant, seed index, plant height, biological yield per plant and harvest index showed high heritability accompanied by high genetic advance, indicating that the heritability was due to additive gene effects and selection may be effective. Seed yield per plant exhibited significant positive correlation with pods per plant (0.982**), clusters per plant (0.977**), primary branches per plant (0.795**), harvest index (0.749**), seeds per pod (0.417**) and biological yield (0.315*) at both the phenotypic and genotypic levels. The characters harvest index (0.748), biological yield (0.649), pods per plant (0.133), seeds per pod (0.095) and primary branches per plant (0.016) exhibited positive direct effect with seed yield. Harvest index and biological yield per plant exhibited high positive direct effect accompanied by significant positive correlation with seed yield. So, these characters can be used as selection criteria for yield improvement in greengram.