Effect of genetic diversity assessment of for crop improvement in french bean (Phaseolus valgaris L.) Germplasm

Forty genotypes of french bean were evaluated in Randomized Block Design with two checks during summer season of 2016 at the Vegetable Research Centre, Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand to assess the genetic diversity for further use in breeding programmes. Approximately 73.329 % of variation was recorded due to four principal components on various genotypes. The genotypes were further subjected to non- Hierarchical cluster analysis that resulted into seven non-overlapping clusters. The maximum number of genotypes was included in cluster III. Cluster IV had maximum cluster mean performance to number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, internodal length can be utilized for the development of high yielding varieties. An analysis of the percentage contribution of individual characters towards genetic diversity revealed that plant height, number of pods per plant, test weight and green pod yield per plant (gm) were the major characters contributing to genetic diversity in French bean.