Background: Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. (2n=22)] is the second most important pulse crop in India after chickpea. In the present study, two-hundred early maturing (less than 140 days) pigeonpea germplasm accessions were evaluated for their genetic parameters based on morphological characters and were subsequently characterized as per the DUS descriptors for pigeonpea. Genetic variability of the population was assessed through genetic parameters and character association analysis. Methods: The plant material comprised of 193 pigeonpea genotypes along with seven checks and the experiment was conducted during kharif 2020-21 and 2021-22 in augmented design. Result: The twenty-one DUS characters were recorded at different crop growth stages. Out of those, the characters for plant height, branching pattern, time to 50% flowering, colour of base of petal, pattern of streaks on petal, pod colour, pod number of seeds, seed colour, seed colour pattern, seed shape and seed size exhibited variation across the accessions. The analysis of variance was executed for the eight different biometrical characters. The highest GCV and PCV value was obtained for the character seed yield per plant (19.91 and 21.4 respectively). Almost all the yield attributing characters except plant height showed high heritability indicating that selection for the characters for crop improvement would be highly effective. Highest genetic advance was observed for the trait pods per plant (42.34) and highest genetic advance as percent of mean was obtained for seed yield per plant (38.24). Correlation analysis among the characters for yield revealed that high positive correlation existed between seed yield per plant with pods per plant (0.580). The character for PH also showed high correlation with seed yield (0.185) which is indicative that high pods per plant and tall plant character contribute significantly towards yield enhancement.

Background: Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp] is the second most important pulse crop in India after chickpea. The crop is cultivated during kharif in the arid and semi-arid regions of India. The present study aims to evaluate the genetic variability of the population in small scale trial (SST) through multivariate, principal component and cluster analysis so as to identify superior high yielding early maturing genotypes that fit in cropping systems suitable for the North Western Plain Zone of India. Methods: The plant material comprised of thirty advanced pigeonpea genotypes along with three checks evaluated in small scale trial (SST) during in randomized complete block design with three replications. Result: High GCV and PCV along with high heritability and GA as percent of mean was recorded for the characters PPP and SYPP indicating the preponderance of additive gene action for the expression of these traits. Seed yield per plot (SYPP) was found to be positively correlated with DF (0.30) and HSW (0.37). Path coefficient analysis revealed that PPP, DF and HSW had significant positive and direct effect on seed yield per plot. Principal Component Analysis further substantiated the variability of the population wherein three components explained 65.8% of variation. Cluster analysis classified the 33 genotypes into eight different clusters thereby highlighting sufficient divergence in the population. Cluster VI and VIII showed the highest distance, which is suggestive of prospective utilization of heterosis from their crosses. Two genotypes AH 20-10 and AH 20-23 were identified as the most genetically distant and hence could be forwarded in future breeding programme.