DECIPHERING GENETIC DIVERSITY IN ADVANCED CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.) BREEDING LINES

Abstract

Chickpea has played a major role in the realization of the “Pulse Revolution” in India, making the country nearly self-sufficient in pulse production. However, modern plant breeding and intensive agricultural practices have narrowed the genetic base of cultivated chickpea, necessitating the exploration of new sources of genetic variability for use in breeding programmes. A genetic diversity study was conducted on 20 promising advanced breeding lines of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) using Mahalanobis D² statistics. Based on D² values and Tocher’s method of clustering, the 20 genotypes were grouped into 10 clusters under different sowing environments. Under timely sown conditions, cluster I contained the maximum number of genotypes (11). Similarly, under late sown conditions, cluster I comprised the highest number of genotypes (13). For the pooled analysis across environments, cluster I again included the maximum number of genotypes (10). The maximum intra-cluster distance under the pooled environment was observed in cluster IV, indicating substantial genetic divergence among the genotypes within this cluster.