Principal Component Analysis of 100 Indigenous & Exotic Accessions of Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] of Indian National Seed Bank

In this study 100 pigeonpea genotypes, including six checks (KRG-33, PT-0012, UPAS-120, CORG-9701, BDN-716, and C.G ARHAR-2), were analyzed using Augmented Block Design. To identify genetic diversity among genotypes, this study used principal component analysis (PCA) on yield and its contributing traits. Principal component analysis found that the first four principal components had an eigen value larger than one, accounting for 66.56% of total variance. Principal component analysis showed that 100 seed weight contributed the most variance in genotypes, followed by number of pods per plant, days to maturity, and pod length. Diversity in plant genotypes allows plant breeders to develop new and improved cultivars with desired features such as earliness and yield contributing attributes.