Altitudinal diversity in horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verdc.) landraces collected from Himalayan hill region

A total of 54 horsegram landraces collected from three altitudinal zones (lower hills, mid hills and higher hills) of Himalayan region were characterized and evaluated for nine quantitative characters. Accessions collected from lower and higher hills were more diverse and differed significantly from mid hills accessions for characters viz., days to flowering, days to physiological maturity, plant height and grain yield per plant. The plotting of first and second principal component axes scores revealed that there was dispersion among the accessions collected from different altitudinal groups. It reveals a less variability among the landraces collected from same altitudinal group but high variability among the landraces collected from different altitudes. This suggests that the horsegram landraces are adapted to specific zone due to different selection pressure practiced by the farmers at different altitudes. Farmers in lower and higher hills select the landraces having high grain yield coupled with less reproductive phase duration and taller in nature.