Abstract

                                Twentyfour geographically diverse blackgram (Vigna mungo (L) Hepper) varieties were grouped into nine clusters on the basis of multivariate analysis for nine yield traits. Characters like yield, pods/plant, plant height, seed weight and days to maturity were found to contribute much to the genetic divergence in blackgram. The genetic clustering pattern revealed the absence of parallelism between geogra- phic and genetic diversity. Inter-cluster distances and mean cluster character values indicated that hybridization of cluster lil varieties (LBG 295, LBG-296, UG-135) with cluster-VIII variety (H-76-1) would exhibit high heterosis and also result in segre- gants with higher yield.

Key words :