Exploring Genetic Variability Of Kabuli Chickpea (Cicer Arietinum l.) Elite Lines Based On Yield Contributing Traits

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18091244

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a valuable leguminous crop that is cultivated globally, with a high level of protein content, good nutritional value and biological fixation of nitrogen to help in enhancing soil fertility. However, in Pakistan, the production of chickpea is low considering the biotic and abiotic stresses, socioeconomic conditions like uncertified seeds and modern farming methods. In this experiment, the genetic variability of 26 genotypes of Kabuli chickpea and a check, that were gathered at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), was checked in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) field experiment conducted at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Morphological and yield characteristics such as the plant height, the number of pods and seeds per plant, hundred seed weight, biological yield and harvest index-were measured. The examination of the genotypes (ANOVA) showed the presence of significant differences between genotypes in most of the traits, which implies a high level of genetic diversity. The seed yield and the characteristics like the number of seeds per plant and plant height have positive relationships implying they may be used as selection criteria in breeding programs. Data demonstrated by principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that PC1 was correlated with percent germination, plant height, number of leaflets, leaf weight, seed yield, and seeds per plant, whereas PC2 was positively correlated with biological yield, seed yield, and seeds per pod. PC3 made its contribution in flowering time, weight of leaves, number of pods and harvest index. The coefficient of variation of the majority of traits was low, which proved the extent of reliability of the experimental data. Cluster analysis found that genetic difference among them is significant with Clusters 8 and 10 having the most ideal parents to breed as they are complementary. According to these analyses, five high-performing genotypes G9, G15, G16, G20 and G26 were picked due to their high yield potential.