Nature of Gene Action for Grain Yield and Yield Component Traits in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum)

To determine the gene action and genetic parameters of agro-morphological traits in chickpea, ten genotypes of chickpea as a half diallel excluding reciprocal crossed with each other in 2013, ten parents and 45 progenies were planted as randomized com plete block design with three replications and some traits including days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, grain yield per plant, 100-seed weight, harvest index and protein content were recorded for each plant (10 observation). Based on analysis of variance, the variance due to parents and hybrids for all genotypes was significantly high in all characters under studied. In the same way the parents were different from hybrids with respect to variance i.e., Parents vs. hybrids variance was significant for all characters except number of branches per plant (table 1) Both additive and dominance genetic effects were significant for all characters. Average degree of dominance revealed over dominance in inheritance of most of the traits under studied. Low to moderate value of narrow-sense heritability was observed for number of seeds per pod and 100-seed weight indicating that huge genetic gain could be achieved for these traits.