Population structure and association mapping for hundred seed weight in mungbean minicore

Mungbean is an important legume rich in protein and carbohydrates. It is cultivated mostly in south to south east Asia and east Africa. One of the important yield contributing traits in mungbean is 100 seed weight. Variation for this trait is available in the mungbean germplasm, and to facilitate improvement of this trait through breeding, genome-wide association mapping for 100 seed weight was carried out in the World Vegetable Center mungbean minicore collection. A total of 24,870 single nucleotide polymorphic markers were tested for association with 100 see weight in plants grown in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Taiwan and candidate loci associated with seed weight on chromosomes 1, 4, 6, 8 and 9 were identified. None of the QTLs was stable across all environments, but loci on chromosomes 4 and 8 were significant in Pakistan and Bangladesh and other loci on chromosome 8 were significantly associated in plants grown in Myanmar and Taiwan.