Field performance and genetic diversity of chickpea genotypes

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important legume crop widely grown across the globe. In this study, twenty six chickpea genotypes, of diverse origin, were evaluated for field performance and genetic diversity. Significant differences in morphological characters of tested chickpea genotypes were observed at vegetative and reproductive stages under field conditions. Amplified fragments length polymorphism (AFLP) and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers, used in this study, showed considerable genetic diversity among the tested genotypes. With markers, 716 AFLP and 1164 polymorphic SRAP loci were analyzed using four AFLP and six SRAP primer combinations. The values for polymorphism information content for SRAP and AFLP were more than 0.6 and 0.9, respectively. In addition, many sub-clusters within genotypes were noted, which indicated high diversity level in the tested genotypes. Clustering of chickpea genotypes was largely based on genetic background and/or origin. Both morphological and molecular data helped to quantify the genetic diversity in tested chickpea genotypes and may be useful for the use in breeding program aimed at yield improvement.