Correlation and Path Analysis Studies in Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] under Arid Environment of Western Rajasthan

Background: Mungbean is an important grain legume crop. It contains a high amount of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The productivity of this crop is still low, hence efforts should be made to improve the yield of mungbean by keeping knowledge about association between seed yield and its components. Thus, the present investigation was aimed to determine the correlation and path coefficient analysis for seed yield and its attributing traits in mungbean. Methods: Seventy-nine diverse genotypes of mungbean were evaluated during Kharif 2017-18 for eleven quantitative traits in randomized block design with three replications at the Experimental farm, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner, Rajasthan. Result: Significant genotypic differences were observed for all the traits studied indicating a considerable amount of variation among genotypes for all the characters. The seed yield per plant exhibited highly significant and positive correlation with number of pods per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index, number of seeds per pod and pod length. The characteristics such as biological yield per plant, harvest index, number of pods per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod, plant height, 100-seed weight and days to 50 per cent flowering had high positive direct effect on seed yield per plant. Therefore, selection based on the traits viz., number of pods per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index, number of seeds per pod, 100-seed weight and pod length could help in enhancing the seed yield per plant in mungbean.