Breeding for biofortification, pod borer tolerance and yield improvement in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)
Loading...
Date
2020-11
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
The present investigation was undertaken to identify promising parents and crosses through diallel analysis involving five lines (PKG 2, ICC 19, ICC 21, ICC 22 and ICC 24) based on GCA and SCA effects. Crosses and parents were evaluated for different twelve agronomic traits (days to 50 % flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, first pod height, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight, grain yield per plant, biological yield per plant and harvest index), three pod borer tolerance related traits viz. trichome density, number of damage seeds and phenol content and two micronutrient traits such as Zn and Fe content. Heterosis was also estimated to identify superior combinations. Analysis of variance for yield, micronutrient and borer tolerance related traits was found significant for all the seventeen traits studied. The analysis of variance for combining ability in yield related, micronutrient and borer tolerance traits indicated that both additive and non- additive gene actions were important for expression of the traits. The estimates of σ2 sca were found to be higher than σ2 gca for all the traits. The parents PKG 2, ICC 19, ICC 21 and ICC 22 were found to be promising general combiners for maximum number of yield attributing characters, micronutrient and pod borer tolerance related traits. Some crosses exhibited significant sca effects as well as heterosis over the three parents such as PKG 2 × ICC 19 for plant height, trichome density, phenol content and less number of damage seeds, ICC 19 × ICC 21 for number of primary branches, biological yield and 100 seed weight, ICC 19 × ICC 22 for both Fe and Zn content and phenol content and ICC 21 × ICC 22 for less number of damage seeds, trichome density but for phenol content it showed high sca and heterosis over mid and better parent. The crosses, PKG 2 × ICC 24, ICC 19 × ICC 24 and ICC 22 × ICC 24 had pea shaped seeds with blunt peak and beige in colour. While rest seven crosses were owl shaped with rough surface and had prominent beak. Correlation study suggested that trichome density and phenol content were positively correlated but each of these traits were negatively associated with number of damage seeds. The parents ICC 19 were found good for both Fe and Zn content and can be considered as good combiner for biofortification breeding and ICC 24 was found to be good for two pod borer tolerance traits namely trichome density and phenol content. The crosses PKG 2× ICC 19 showcased significant positive sca effects for Fe content and trichome density but showcased significant negative sca for number of damage seeds in desirable direction. ICC 19 was the most promising parent for maximum traits while the crosses, PKG 2 × ICC 19, ICC 19 × ICC 22 and ICC 21 × ICC 22 were found significant in desirable direction for agronomic traits, biofortification and pod borer tolerance related traits as well as for desirable seed shape. Hence, these crosses could be utilized in future breeding programs for improvement of respective traits through selection in segregating generations.