Evaluation and Diversity Observed in Horsegram ( Macrotyloma uniflo rum (Lam) Verdc.) Germplasm from Andhra Pradesh, India

Thirty eight horsegram accessions were characterized and evaluated during post rainy 2005-06 and 2006-07 for six qualitative and nine quantitative traits. All the accessions had trailing growth habit and determinate growth but showed variation in vigour, stem colour, flower colour and seed colour. Plant height, number of primary branches, number of clusters per plant and seeds per pod were found to be significant traits. Number of clusters per plant ranged from 22.9 (IC426518) to 95.5 (261297) and seeds per pod ranged from 4.3 (IC261287) to 6.4 (IC426478). The accessions- IC426490 (33.9 g) and IC261302 (189.1 g) produced lowest and highest yield per plant respectively. Significant correlation between number of pods per plant and yield per plant (r = 0.73) was recorded. The multivariate cluster analysis grouped the accessions into two clusters. Promising lines for number of clusters per plant viz. IC261297, IC261302 and seeds per pod viz. IC 426478 (6.4); IC 261297 (6.1); IC 261298 (6.1); IC 426569 (6.1) were identified based on analysis.