Quantifying Genetic Diversity in Mothbean (Vigna aconitifolia L.) Using Euclidean Distance and Cluster Analysis

The present study was carried out during late Kharif 2022-23 at ‘C’ block, College of Agriculture, Vijayapur (University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad), to assess genetic diversity among 45 Mothbean germplasm lines along with two checks (KBMB-1 and MBS-803),evaluated under an Augmented Block Design. Genetic divergence was estimated using non-hierarchical Euclideanclustering (K-means). The 45 germplasm lines weregrouped into eight distinct clusters, indicatingthepresenceofconsiderablegeneticdiversity.ClusterV wasthelargest(13 genotypes), followed by Cluster II (8 genotypes), while Cluster VI contained a single entry. The maximum intra-cluster distancewas recorded for Cluster I(3.40),while the smallest was observedin Cluster VII (2.55). Inter-cluster distance was highest between Cluster IV and V (12.07), followed by Cluster III and V (11.65), suggesting these clusters harbor the most divergent parents for hybridization. Cluster mean analysis revealed wide variation across all traits. Cluster V exhibited desirable mean values for early flowering (44days), while Cluster IV recorded the early maturity (99.57 days). The study identified genetically divergent and superior genotypes across clusters that could be effectively utilized in future Mothbean improvement programmes to generate heterotic combinations and desirable transgressive segregants.