Study of Genetic Variability and Interaction of Some Quantitative Traits in Chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L)

Abstact A study was conducted during 2007-08 and 2008-09 to identify the stable genotypes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) for grain yield under diverse agronomic conditions. Twenty nine genotypes were evaluated in 4 environments under irrigated and un-irrigated conditions for their yield performance. Data on 10 yield component (days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, branches per plant , pods per plant, seeds per pod, 100seed weight, biological yield, seed yield per plant and harvest index) were used to investigate the effects of genotype, environment and G x E. On partitioning these components into linear and non-linear components, both were responsible for expression of the traits. However, the linear component was found larger in magnitude than the nonlinear component suggesting that variation in the performance of different cultivars could be predicted. The genotypes Pusa 1105, BG 2050, DG 5003 DG 5008 and DG 5009 were found suitable for irrigated environments for grain yield. For moisture stress environment four genotypes Pusa 1003, Pusa 1053, DG 5005 and DG 5055 were found stable for grain yield. For the days to maturity only two genotypes Pusa 1105 and Pusa 1105 were found stable across environments. Thus these genotypes could be used for commercial cultivation. The stability measures are useful in characterizing cultivars by showing their relative performance in various environments. High phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation coupled with high heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean were reported for seed yield per plant, number seeds per pod and number of pods per plant indicating predominance of additive gene effects in controlling these characters