Genotype-Environment Interaction and Genetic Parameters in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Landraces

In order to determine the desirable line for chickpea rainfed sowing, seven local lines (K- 6, G- 35, D- 15, F-20, B -17, H- 45 and M- 20) were selected from Syrian chickpea landraces. These lines were grown during two seasons 2006 /2007- 2007 / 2008 at two different locations (Tal-sandal: with a mean annual precipitation of 475mm, Harran: with amean annual precipitation of only 300 mm). Genotype-environment interaction and genetic parameter were studied forseed yield per plant /g, days to maturity and protein content. The results showed that effect of location (L) and season (E) was highly significant (P < 0.01) while the interactionamong Locations, Seasons and Genotypes ( L x E x G) was not significant (P > 0.05). The heritability for protein content varied from (0.83) to (0.93) that indicated the presence of a considerable proportionof total variability due to genetic causes. A high genetic advance (GA) (51.5 to 62.7) % was achieved for seeds yield perplant. The environmental variance (σ2e) was very low for days to maturity and protein content. The differences betweengenotypic (GCV) and phenotypic (PCV) coefficient of variability were very small. The results recommended to selection line M-20 that was the desirable line for both seed yield per plant (33 to 40) g andprotein content (22.17 to 24.72%) as compared to other lines