Association analysis in Kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

In the millennium of an ever-growing population, feeding the millions ample amount of food with necessarily required nutrition has become a tough challenge. To cater protein requirement, plant-based protein, especially pulses, have always been a better option. Among the pulses, chickpea is one of the choicest crops being extensively cultivated throughout the world. However, the production and productivity of crops are not sufficient to meet consumer demand throughout the world. To aid in the selection process of chickpea breeding, the present study was performed to evaluate fifty-one kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) germplasm lines along with four checks for the degree and direction of association of twelve quantitative characters on yield in fifty five kabuli chickpea genotypes. Considerable positive correlation was found between the weight of 100 seeds and the height of the chickpea plant, but the number of pods per plant and seed volume per weight were observed to be in negative association with the former trait. The primary branch depicted a substantial amount of positive correlation with harvest index, seed yield per individual plant, pods produced per plant. Secondly, the current study on association analysis also unveiled positive and highly significant correlations of the number of primary branches, height at the first pod set, pods/plant, and weight of 100 seeds on seed yield, suggesting their further use as selection criteria  in the  process of crop improvement.