Morphological and molecular genetic diversity analysis of chickpea genotypes

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of most important legume crops. However, the harvested yield is quite low than the potential yield, particularly in hot and dry environments. This demands development of genotypes for the target environments. However, genetic variability, its estimation and use are considered as the first step for the breeding program. In this study, 52 chickpea genotypes of diverse morphology and origin, were investigated for phenology, morphology, yield related traits and genetic diversity in dry Mediterranean environment. There was high degree of variability among the tested genotypes for phenology, morphology and yield related traits under field conditions. Genetic diversity among the tested chickpea genotypes was estimated with sequence related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. In the principal component analysis (PCA), initial five PCs described 87% of the variance, where in the first two PCs contributed 39 and 21%, respectively. Based on geography and breeding year, main clusters (five) comprised of genotypes with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) analysis and unweighted (pair) group technique. Seventeen SRAP primers generated 677 amplified fragments (peaks), with mean polymorphic information content [PIC] of 94. Forty SSR primers showed good amplification, with average PIC of 0.40. Estimated and recorded heterozygosity ranged from 0.34-0.63 and 0.18-0.78, respectively. The UPGMA analysis on SRAP and SSR data grouped the genotypes according to geography and pedigree. Based on the field performance and genetic diversity data, maximum diversity was observed among 8 genotypes, which may be selected for further breeding programs.