Integrated Morpho‐Genomic Characterisation of Mungbean Germplasm for Diversity and Parental Selection

ABSTRACT

The cultivated mungbean ( Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) has a narrow genetic base that limits sustained gains in yield, adaptation and resilience, making the identification of agronomically superior yet genetically divergent germplasm a priority for broadening the breeding pool. A panel of 105 Indian mungbean accessions was evaluated across two contrasting environments in an alpha‐lattice design and 10 morpho‐agronomic traits were analysed with a linear mixed model that estimated variance components by restricted maximum likelihood and predicted genotypic values as best linear unbiased predictions. Genome‐wide SNP data were generated by genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS), yielding 37,780 high‐quality bi‐allelic SNPs distributed across all 11 chromosomes and genetic relationships were resolved by principal component analysis, hierarchical clustering, model‐based ancestry inference and a SNP‐based neighbour‐joining phylogeny. Genotype and genotype × environment effects were significant for all traits, broad‐sense heritability exceeded 80% and selective accuracy ranged from 0.92 to 0.99, indicating reliable model‐based selection. Model‐based clustering resolved shallow population structure (two weakly differentiated groups; among‐group molecular variance 2.68%), whereas phenotypic and neighbour‐joining analyses concordantly grouped the germplasm into three genetic clusters, indicating that much of the agronomic variation tracks underlying genomic differentiation. Accessions V38 (IC76477), V11 (IC39603) and V1 (IC39402) combined superior agronomic performance with low pairwise genomic relatedness across distinct neighbour‐joining lineages and are proposed as promising parents for recombination breeding. These accessions provide valuable resources for broadening the genetic base of mungbean improvement and accelerating the development of high‐yielding cultivars adapted to diverse Indian production environments.