Background: Mungbean is one important short duration pulse mostly grown in South and Southeast Asia. The level of variability available in the germplasm influences how well a breeding programme would be productive. Understanding the nature and extent of genetic diversity in breeding material is greatly helped by estimates of genetic variability parameters and character associations. The current study aimed to study genetic variability and character associations in mungbean for yield and its attributes, pre-requisite for formulating an effective breeding programme. Methods: The present experiments were carried out with 107 mungbean genotypes collected from NBPGR (New Delhi) and AAU-Zonal research station, Shillongani. The genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete block design over two replications for yield and yield attributing traits at the experimental farm Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during 2020-2021. Result: The traits like yield per plant, number of branches per plant, clusters per plant, pods per plant, plant height, 100 seeds weight and peduncle length exhibited a high to medium magnitude of genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV). Additionally, these traits showed high heritability and high genetic advance. The correlation studies revealed significant positive relationships between yield and all the assessed traits, with the exception of shelling percentage. The results of the path analysis indicated that a few traits, such as the number of pods per plant and the weight of 100 seeds, had a significant positive impact on seed yield. This suggests that when selecting for seed yield in mungbean, it would be advantageous to take into account these traits.

Eastern Himalayan Region (EHR), where rice is an important staple crop, developing drought stress tolerant varieties is crucial for improving yield and stability in variable climates. Genotype-by-environment (GEI) analysis is essential to understand the potential performance of the rice genotypes across environments. Present study investigated the stress responsive agro-physiological performance and stability of nine rice genotypes over two consecutive years across four distinct environments, with a focus of imparting wider climate stress resilience vis a vis augmented drought tolerance. Significant genotype-by-environment interactions were observed for 16 agro-physiological traits based on likelihood ratio test analysis. Stability and multi-trait selection were assessed using Weighted Average of Absolute Scores (WAASB) and Smith-Hazel index-based models. Genotypes, Tripura Chikan Dhan (G9), TRC-2015-10 (G5) and TRC-2015-17 (G6) were identified stable and high yielding with superior physiological traits, based on WAASB based methods. Genotypes Nagina-22 (G2) and TRC-2015-17 (G6) were identified as desirable based on the Smith-Hazel index and TRC-2015-17 (G6) outperformed all other genotypes in terms of yield and physiological traits, as determined by both WAASB based methods and Smith-Hazel method. The genotype, TRC-2015-17 (G6) exhibited the high grain yield (25.5 g/plant) along with superior physiological traits, including maximum root length (99.53 cm), root volume (132.7 cm³), and flag leaf thickness (0.22 mm). These findings emphasise the potential of Tripura Chikan Dhan (G9), TRC-2015-10 (G5) and TRC-2015-17 (G6) and ushering the scope for revalidating the same across diverse and challenging hill agro-ecologies to strengthen future breeding programme.

Many natively adapted, aromatic, and high-quality rice landraces can be found in NE India. Among the different classes of cultivated rice varieties, Assam has a distinctive scented rice variety known locally as 'joha,' which is particularly popular among the region's farmers. The aroma of joha rice is also thought to differ markedly from that of basmati rice. Genotype stability can be established through genetic variation. Thus, new disease resistant joha rice varieties are necessary to meet both domestic and worldwide demand. There is a need for conservation of this traditional aromatic joha rice germplasm which could be used in the future breeding programme for multiple disease resistance and grain and aroma quality traits improvement. The recent advancements in marker and genomics assisted breeding coupled with high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping enable the discovery of novel alleles and gene targets for the implementation of sustainable rice cultivars with improved grain aroma quality.