Identification of QTL(s) for terminal drought tolerance in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)
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Date
2016
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CCSHAU
Abstract
Drought stress, particularly at the end of the growing season i.e. terminal drought stress is a major constrain production and yield stability in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Identification of genomic regions contributing to drought stress tolerance can help to develop better chickpea varieties through pyramiding of favorable alleles into adapted genotypes by molecular marker-assisted breeding. In the present investigation, experiments were conducted to evaluate two F2 populations derived from crosses between (HC-1 and ICC 4958) and (HC-1 and RSG 931), for genotyping by SSR markers and F2:3 populations for phenotyping of phenological, growth-related; yield and yield-related; and physiological traits. F2:3 progeny lines of cross HC-1 × ICC 4958 displayed large variation for phenological, growth-related; yield and yield-related; and physiological traits. Root depth and root dry weight was found to be positively correlated with seed yield. Similarly relative water content, osmotic potential and photochemical efficiency of photosystem II was positively correlated with seed yield while water potential, relative stress injury and CTD was positively correlated with seed yield. A DNA fingerprint database of 128 F2 progeny lines of cross, HC-1× ICC 4958 was prepared using 27 polymorphic SSR markers. F2:3 design was used to map the QTLs for drought stress tolerance using WinQTL cartographer 2.5 and a total of 16 novel QTLs were identified for growth-related traits (3); yield and yield-related traits (6); and physiological traits (7) on linkage group 7. Out of 16 identified QTLs, five were major QTLs, one each for root depth, 100 seeds weight, biological yield, osmotic potential of leaf and relative stress injury of leaf, which were contributing more than 15% in phenotypic variance. In another cross, F2:3 progeny lines of cross HC-1 × RSG 931 displayed variation for phenological, growth-related; yield and yield-related; and physiological traits. Root length was found to be negatively correlated with yield in 18 F2:3 progeny lines of cross HC-1 × RSG 931. DNA fingerprint database of 18 F2 progeny lines of cross HC-1 × RSG 931 was prepared using 25 polymorphic SSR markers, NTSYS-pc analysis and two-dimensional PCA scaling exhibited that 18 F2 progeny lines were interspersed between the two parental chickpea genotypes. In conclusion, after validation, QTLs identified in the present study can be used to introgress in elite chickpea genotypes by marker assisted selection to develop drought tolerant varieties.