Assessment of genetic diversity in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) germplasm

Assessment of genetic diversity in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) germplasm

2014

A:PS

The present study was conducted at Regional Plant Genetic Resources Center, RARS, Ishurdi, Pabna, Bangladesh during rabi season of 2011-12. Multivariate analysis was carried out to assess the genetic diversity among eleven cowpea germplasm. Mahalanobis generalized distance (D2) analysis was used to group the cowpea genotypes. A total of 88.02 % variation was observed from PCA against first five eigen values while only first two values were responsible for 50.11 % variation. Considering the mean values, the germplasm were grouped into four clusters. Maximum numbers (4) genotypes were included in cluster III and a minimum number (2) genotypes were included in both cluster II and IV. Among the clusters, the highest inter-cluster distance was obtained between the cluster IV and II (23.952) and the lowest one was obtained between II and I (6.753). The maximum value of inter cluster distance indicated that genotypes belonging to cluster IV were far diverged from those of cluster II. The first female flower initiation was earlier in BD-8344 (97 days) than the other germplasm. BD-8348 produced maximum number of pods per plant (41.20). The highest grain yield per plant (66.65g) was recorded from entry BD-8344 and the lowest grain yield per plant (28.80g) was also obtained in BD- 1604.

37(1):57-63, BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE KYUSHU UNIVERSITY

Research > Published Articles