Agrobiodiversity of eleven accessions of Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. var. utilis (Wall. ex Wight) Baker ex Burck (velvet bean) collected from four districts of South India

Eleven accessions of an under-utilized legume, Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. var. utilis (Wall. ex Wight) Baker ex Burck (velvet bean) were collected from four districts of South India and their agronomic characters were evaluated. The vegetative growth characters such as the germination percentage, plant height, number of leaves and branches per plant were recorded. The yield based characters such as the number of clusters/plant (4–14), number of flowers/cluster (3–15) and the fertility index (66–91%) were observed. The seed yield reaches 2.9–6.9 t/ha. The number of seeds per pod, seed weight and the seed recovery percentage were also calculated. The level of diversity in the agrobotanical traits of velvet bean observed in the present study could be of interest in a breeding programme.