Genetic diversity and interrelationships between agronomic traits in landrace chickpea accessions collected from Kurdistan province, north-west of Iran

ABSTRACT: The genetic diversity among and within landraces makes them a valuable resource as potential donors of genes for breeding purposes, so in this study 40 landrace chickpea accessions, collected from major chickpea growing area of north-west of Iran, were evaluated to determine their phenotypic diversity. Variance analysis showed high significant differences for ten measures morphological traits. Correlation analysis demonstrated that seed yield is highly correlated with 100-seed weight, number of pods per plant, number of seed per plant and biomass. Path analysis indicated that among the ten measured characters, 100-seed weight and number of pods per plant had most direct positive effects of seed yields. Using principal component (PC) analysis, the first four PCs with eigenvalues more than 1 contributed 82.7% of the variability among accessions. PC1, which is the most important component, explained 36.33% of the total variation and was positively related to number of pods per plant, plant biomass, number of secondary branches, number of seeds per plant and RWC; PC2 accounted for 19.10% of the total variation and the characters with the greatest weight on this component were plant height, plant biomass and 100-seed weight; PC3 was mainly related to day to flowering; PC4 was positively related to seed yield. The germplasm were grouped into 3 clusters. Each cluster had some specific characteristics of its own and the cluster I was clearly separated from cluster II and III. The results of present study can be used in breeding strategies for future hybridization programes for yield improvement.