Vol. 11, Issue 11 (2022)

Varietal characterization, varietal identification and genetic purity are the most important aspect for seed certification officers and growers for maintaining the seed quality. One hundred ninety three desi chickpea genotypes were evaluated for twenty agro-morphological characters based on the guidelines for DUS descriptors on chickpea by PPV & FRA. The results indicated that the genotypes of chickpea can be distinguished and identified by plants and morphological characters. These differences are useful in identification of chickpea genotypes. The observations showed that the characters like anthocyanin coloration, days to 50% flowering, plant: growth habit, foliage colour, leaflet size, leaf pattern, peduncle length, plant height, pod: number of seed, seed colour, seed size, seed shape and seed texture, showed subsequent variations indicating polymorphic in nature as compared to the traits such as flower: number per peduncles, flower: strips, seed: ribbing and seed types, were found to be monomorphic.