GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN INDIAN BEAN

Mahalanobis D2 statistics was used to study genetic divergence for 15 characters in a collection
of 37 genotypes of Indian bean. These genotypes were grouped into three clusters on the basis
of relative magnitude of D2 values. The highest number of genotypes (18) appeared in cluster II.
The higher order of divergence was recorded between clusters II and I. Genotypes includes in
cluster I were good source of yield per plant, number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant
and seed length, number of seeds per pod and number of fruits set accounted for 93% of the
total divergence. Thus, these characters hold great promise in breeding strategy. Pod thickness,
number of pods/plant, pod width, pod weight, pod length and yield/plant showed high GCV and
high heritability along with high genetic advance revealing that these characters were controlled
by additive gene. Maximum direct effect of number of pods per plant followed by pod weight,
pod width, % fruit set towards yield/plant indicated that these characters were very important
while making selection for high yielding genotypes. Association studies revealed that yield/
plant, had significant positive association with pods per plant, pod width, pod weight and pod
length at genotypic and phenotypic levels.