Vol. 11, Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
Dishari Biswas, Sonika Yumnam, TH Renuka Devi, Bireswar Sinha and N Okendro Singh

Abstract:
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the important pulse crop widely grown in India as a rain fed and irrigated crop. The source of genetically variable germplasm is important for a potential chickpea improvement breeding programme. In this regard, the present experiment was conducted during Rabi 2021 at Central Agricultural University, Research farm, Andro. To study the association between yield and other components, selected 50 germplasms along with 3 checks obtained from various sources were studied for nine quantitative traits. High GCV and PCV for the number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, number of pods per plant and seed yield per plant indicate the presence of genetic variability among the germplasm lines. High heritability has been shown by most of the characters studied. Significant and positive correlation with seed yield per plant was observed for seven characters viz., plant height, days to 50 % flowering, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and 100 seed weight. Positive direct and indirect effects of yield component traits on seed yield per plant was observed. Germplasm lines were clustered into 4 clusters where cluster III contained the maximum number of lines. Hence, these traits may serve as an effective selection criterion for yield improvement. Based on the mean performance some of the promising germplasm lines selected are D17-40, ICC-4567, D17-49, D17-45 and ICC-4418. These superior lines can be further used in hybridization programme.