katna, GopalS D, Nitesh2019-01-232019-01-232018-06http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810092129The research endeavour entitled “Studies on genetic diversity using agro-morphological and molecular markers in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)” was executed in the Research Sub-Station, Berthin, Bilaspur during the rabi 2017-18 with the goal to investigate the diversity present in the twenty-five chickpea genotypes. These genotypes were evaluated for various agro-morphological traits like days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of nodes per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, days to maturity, seed yield, biomass yield, harvest index, 100-seed weight, protein content and seed yield per plant. Genetic diversity was assessed using sixteen SSR primers distributed evenly throughout the nuclear genome at Chickpea Genomic centre, ICRISAT, Hyderabad. Analysis of variance revealed the presence of sufficient variability among the genotypes for all the traits under the study except number of nodes per plant. Genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were found to be higher for the number of primary branches, 100-seed weight and seed yield per plant. Moderate GCV and PCV were observed for plant height, number of secondary branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, biomass yield and harvest index. Low GCV and PCV were observed for days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity and protein content. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for 100-seed weight; whereas high heritability with moderate genetic advance was found for protein content. Moderate heritability with high genetic advance was observed for number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant and seed yield per plant. Correlation studies revealed seed yield per plant had positive and significant association with number of pods per plant and 100-seed weight, whereas negative and significant association was found with number of seeds per pod and protein content. Path analysis revealed direct positive effect of 100-seed weight, number of pods per plant and negative effect of number of seeds per pod and protein content with seed yield per plant. Selection index traits for increasing seed yield per plant are 100-seed weight, number of pods per plant, biomass yield and number of primary branches. Mahalanobis D2 statistics had grouped the twenty-five chickpea genotypes into 3 clusters with cluster I containing twenty three genotypes followed by cluster II and cluster III containing one genotype each. Sixteen SSR primer pair amplified 1 to 3 alleles in each genotypes with the amplicon size ranging from 130 bp to 267 bp. Neighbour joining cluster analysis grouped the twenty-four chickpea accessions to 3 groups with cluster I having thirteen genotypes, followed by cluster II and cluster III having eight and three accessions, respectively. Based on morphological and genetic diversity, the cross between desi genotypes ICC 10835, P-113, ICC 9702, L-81 and HPC-1 and kabuli genotypes PG0027 and ICCV 98818 will yield superior segregants.ennullThesis