Genetic Analysis of Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] Hybrids for Yield and Yield Attributes

An experiment was carried-out with forty-eight hybrids of pigeonpea and two checks for nine characters at Agricultural Research Station, Tandur (Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University). Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the hybrids for all the nine characters studied. The results of genetic parameters revealed that, high genotypic (GCV) and phenotypic coefficients of variations (PCV) were observed for seed yield and number of pods per plant. Six characters viz., number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, pod length, test weight and seed yield exhibited high heritability estimates coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean which suggested that these traits were amenable for further improvement following simple selection methods. Character association revealed significant positive association of seed yield with plant height,number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and pod length. Based on divergence studies, the hybrids were grouped into nine clusters in Tocher’s method, cluster II (14 hybrids) was the largest followed by cluster I (13), cluster VI (9), cluster IV (6), cluster IX (4) and the remaining clusters were solitary (III, V, VII and VIII). Out of the nine characters studied, seed yield, days to 50% flowering, test weight and plant height contributed 85.62 per cent of the total divergence and these traits were found to be important factors for genetic differentiation in the hybrids. The overall results of the study revealed that, hybrids under cluster IV and VIII and cluster VII and VIII had maximum and minimum inter cluster distances respectively and possessing high genetic diversity for the characters viz. plant height, number of branches per plant, number of seeds per pod and yield.