Genetic analysis for protein, micronutrients and yield attributing traits in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

A study with 24 desi chickpea genotypes was taken up at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh during rabi 2017-18 to get an insight into the existing genetic variability and diversity for protein, iron, zinc, manganese and copper content and also for yield traits. Analysis of variance revealed substantial genetic variability in the genotypes for traits contributing to yield, machine harvestable traits, protein content and micronutrients. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was noticed for protein, iron, zinc, copper contents and also for yield traits. Phenotypic selection could be successfully be exerted on these for enhancement of traits. High heritability with moderate genetic advance for plant height and low heritability with low genetic advance for manganese content indicated that both additive and nonadditive gene action could be governing the traits which in turn results in slow progress through selection for these traits. Mahalanobis D² statistic categorized 24 genotypes into seven distinct clusters. Nearly 41.67 % genetic diversity was contributed by height of the first pod followed by number of pods per plant (24.64%). Genetic diversity due to seed yield and plant height was 7.61 and 3.99% respectively. Among nutritive traits, protein has contributed up to 7.97 % followed by zinc (5.8%), copper (3.62%) and iron (2.17%). Some promising genotypes of the present study viz., ICC 14402, ICC 1398, ICC 9942 , ICC 6874, ICC 14831 and ICC 7441 which were assorted into diverse clusters hold promise in breeding nutritionally rich chickpea vis a vis addressing breeding for high yield and also designing genotypes amenable for machine harvest.