Genetic studies to identify climate resilient chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes

Abstract

The present investigation on deciphering the genetic variability in chickpea with the aim to isolate early genotypes with high productivity was carried out during Rabi 2020-21at College of Agriculture, Vijayapur. Seventy five genotypes inclusive of checks were evaluated under augmented design. Analysis of variation showed significant variation for most of the traits under consideration including phenological, seed and productivity traits. Estimates of GCV and PCV were high for number of primary branches, number of pods per plant, hundred seed weight and seed yield. Correlation studies showed positive and significant association of seed yield with number of pods per plant, plant height and hundred seed weight inferring scope of yield improvement through direct selection for these traits. Further, genetic diversity analysis, based on D2 values, resulted into eight clusters with Cluster I being largest (47 genotypes) while five clusters (II, V, VI, VII and VIII) were solitary and highest inter cluster distance of 5095.17 was recorded between Cluster II and VIII. Cluster means were used for ranking the clusters and Cluster II was top ranked with score of 37 followed by Cluster VII (40). Principal component analysis revealed that about 80 per cent of the variability was contributed through phenological traits viz., flowering, podding and maturity. The promising genotypes for high productivity coupled with early maturity are need of the hour to enhance the chickpea production under changing climatic conditions. In the present study, several such potential early maturing genotypes with high productivity were isolated. The identified genotypes will be evaluated further and the best genotypes will be selected for advanced yield evaluation trials