Variability in 2980 Chickpea Accessions for Agronomic and Nutritional Traits and Identifying Multitrait Germplasm through Multienvironment Evaluation.

Variability in 2980 chickpea accessions for agronomic and nutritional traits and identifying multitrait germplasm through multienvironment evaluation

Abstract

Chickpea is an important legume crop grown in over 50 countries for its protein-rich seeds. It serves as an important protein source for humans who consume vegetarian diets. Chickpea seeds are also a rich source of minerals, fiber, unsaturated fatty acids, β-carotene and do not contain any antinutritional factors. However, chickpea yields continue to be low mainly because of biotic and abiotic stresses and low use of diversity in cultivar development programs. Chickpea cultivars with enhanced host-plant resistance, nutritionally dense seeds, and greater yield potential with a broad genetic base will enhance yield genetic gains and reduce inputs to sustain production. To develop such cultivars, breeders need new sources of variation for agronomic and nutritional traits. The 2980 cultivated chickpea including 1691 Desi, 1159 Kabuli, and 130 Intermediate type accessions from composite collection (3000 accessions), representing diversity in the global collections, were evaluated with six control cultivars for agronomic and nutritional traits in the multienvironment trials at ICRISAT Campus Patancheru, India. High genetic variability was observed for all the traits. Several accessions in Desi, Kabuli and Intermediate groups that showed superiority over best control cultivar for days to flowering and maturity, seed yield, 100-seed weight, pods per plant and protein, iron and zinc contents were identified. Several accessions had combination of different agronomic and nutritional traits. Using SSR data genetic diversity among accessions was estimated and genetically diverse trait-specific germplasm identified. These accessions are ideal genetic resources that may be used to develop high-yielding and nutritionally enhanced chickpea cultivars with a broad genetic base and for genomic studies to map traits.