CHARACTER ASSOCIATION AMONG SOME WING BEAN (Psophocarpus Tetragonolobus) ACCESSIONS FOR SEED QUALITY AND YIELD RELATED ATTRIBUTES

Abstract

Wing bean, also known as God-sent vegetable, could become an important leafy vegetable, with the pods and seeds rich in protein serving as a multipurpose crop. Despite its many uses, inadequate information on the yield and seed characters limits its improvement. Twenty-five accessions of wing-bean seeds were evaluated for variability, seed quality attributes and yield related parameters. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design in 3 replicates, with seeds sown at a spacing of 50 x 50cm within and between rows. Data taken on seed attributes and yield parameters were subjected to Analysis of variance; means separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test. Correlation matrix was used to determine the level of association among the parameters. Significant differences were observed among the accessions for most of the traits. Root length was positively correlated with shoot length, seedling vigour index, number of pods per plant and seed weight per plot (r = 0.435**, 0.596**, 0.261* and 0.291*, respectively) but negatively correlated with pod/seed ratio (r = -0.311*). Seed yield was positively correlated with shoot length, root length, vigour index, number of pods/plant and number of seeds/plant. Seed vigour and yield- related parameters could be used to improve the yield of the wing bean.