Vol. 12, Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
Shankar Lal Choudhary, Sonika Yumnam, Nikhita Kalesan, Rahul Koli, N Anando Singh, Th. Renuka Devi, N Okendra Singh and Bireswar Sinha

Abstract:
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) belongs to the subfamily Faboideae in the Papilionaceous family. It is an autogamous legume crop with chromosome number fourteen (2n=14). The main objective of breeders involved in crop improvement programs is to significantly increase grain yield. The present study was conducted in Rabi 2022 to evaluate genetic parameters, correlation coefficients and path coefficients. To study the association between yield and other components, 50 germplasm lines and five check were evaluated for nine quantitative traits. Small differences were found between the phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variance, suggesting that trait expression is determined by genotype. High heritability and GAM were found for most of the characters studied. A significant and positive correlation with seed yield per plant was found for six traits: Plant height, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, number of pods each plant, number of seeds each pod and 100-seed weight. Path coefficient analysis showed that number of pods per plant had a positive direct effect on seed yield per plant, followed by number of seeds per pod, 100-seed weight and plant height.