Assessment of Genetic Variability and Interrelationship among Some Agronomic Traits in Chickpea

Twenty chickpea genotypes were studied for various yield parameters under field conditions to estimate correlation coefficients and linkage distance. Analysis of variance of yield and its components revealed significant differences between genotypes for six out of nine traits studied. Maximum variation was recorded for pods per plant followed by secondary branches per plant, biological yield, grain yield and harvest index. Highly significant and positive correlation of grain yield was found with biological yield, secondary branches and number of pods/plant. Secondary branches were positively correlated with number of pods per plant and grain yield per plant, whereas it was negatively associated with 100 grain weight. Cluster diagram based on Euclidean dissimilarity placed all the genotypes in three clusters at 50% linkage distance. Cluster I, II and Ill possessed 8, 5 and 7 genotypes, respectively. Means of various traits for each character showed that genotypes with maximum number of secondary branches, pods per plant, biological yield and seed yield per plant were placed together in cluster Ill. Genotypes with maximum harvest index and 100 seed weight were placed in cluster II and I, respectively. © 2010 Friends Science Publishers