GENETIC ANALYSIS OF EARLINESS AND YIELD RELATED TRAITS IN VIGNA RADIATA (L.) WILCZEK

To drive information about genetic mechanism and inter-relationship of various plant characters like maturity duration, growth habit, seed yield and its components in mungbean (Vigna radiate (L) Wilczek), an eight parents diallel cross experiment was performed in the department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during the years 2002 and 2003. Fifty five mungbean lines/varieties were selected and crossed in all possible combinations. During the next season seeds were grown to raise the F1 and F2 in the following season. The data with respect to various parameters were statistically analyzed, discussed and inferences made are summarized as under:-\ud \ud Analysis of variance depicted that differences among the genotypes were highly significant for all the characters studied in F1 and F2 generations. The additive dominance genetic model proved to be fully adequate in F1 and F2 generations for the characters like plant height at flowering, plant height at maturity, days to maturity pods per plant, seeds per pod, 1000-seeds weight, and total plant dry matter. Grain yield in case of F1 and days to flowering in F2 generation were fully adequate. Days to flowering, harvest index and degree of indetermination were partially adequate in F1 whereas grain yield and harvest index wee partially adequate in F2 generation. Length of reproductive phase was inadequate in both generations.\ud \ud Estimation of components of genetic variation and graphic representation of Vr and covariance Wr, for both additive and non additive gene actions in the inheritance of these traits except total plant dry matter for which additive gene action prevailed in both the generations.\ud \ud Character association study revealed that total plant dry matter and harvest index could be used as selection criterion. Long duration genotypes with sufficient growth before flowering, capable of producing more dry matter and converting it into grains are recommended to improve yield potential in mungbean