INVESTIGATION OF GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.) GENOTYPES

Abstract

An experiment with fifty one genotypes of Chickpea carried out to study the nature and magnitude of genetic
divergence using Mahalanobis’s D2
Statistics, in randomized block design with two replications. The data for
eight important quantitative traits recorded from the genotypes raised. The fifty one Chickpea genotypes were
grouped into five clusters. Cluster I was largest with forty genotypes followed by cluster II with eight genotypes.
The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster I and V, followed by cluster II and V suggesting
that the genetic architecture of the genotypes in one cluster differ entirely from those included in other clusters.
Three characters viz. 100 seed weight, No. of pods per plant and Days to 50% flowering contributed maximum
in manifestation of genetic diversity. Seed yield plant-1 had maximum Phenotypic and Genotypic Coefficient of
Variation (PCV and GCV), followed by 100 seed weight. High magnitude of heritability (broad sense) was
recorded for 100 seed weight. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for number of
pod per plant, 100 seed weight, Days to 50% flowering and Plant height suggesting that, the role of additive gene
effect and possibilities of achieving high genetic progress through selection. The genotypes IC-270936, IC487323, IC-350889, Vishal, Digvijay, IC-442831, IC-268927, IC-327656, IC-299779, EC-490044 and IC-269004
were identified as genetically diverse parents, which can be utilized for future crop improvement programme in
Chickpea.