COVERING LETTER
Title
Genetic variability and trait association in chickpea
(Cicer arietinum L.) genotype at seedling stage.
AUTHORS NAME AND ADDRESS
Qurban Ali
[E-mail; qurbanalisaim@yahoo.com
Department of Plant Breeding and
Genetic, University of
Agriculture,Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan
Muhammad Ahsan
Department of Plant Breeding and
Genetic, University of
Agriculture,Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan
Mumhammad
Crossponding author
[E-mai; waseem_1028@yahoo.com]
[+923349804812]
Muhammad Tahir
Department of Agronomy, University of
Agriculture,Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan
Department of Agronomy, University of
Agriculture,Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan
Mumhammad shahid Ibni Zamir
Department of Agronomy, University of
Agriculture,Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan
Genetic variability and trait association in chickpea
(Cicer arietinum L.) genotype at seedling stage.
Qurban Ali1, Muhammad Ahsan1, Muhammad Waseem2 , Muhammad Tahir2
and M.Shahid Ibne Zamir2
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics1, Department of Agronomy2
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
Crossponding Authur; [waseem_1028@yahoo.com]
ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics,
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during 2007-2008 to evaluate the genetic
variability and trait association in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotype at
seedling stage. Experiment was comprised seventy elite lines and ten standard
varieties of chickpea. Regarding genotypic and phenotypic correlations among the
components, positive and significant correlation was found for different parameters
like seedling length, root length, root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass, leaf length, leaf
width and leaf area. A negative correlation was found between root length and
root-to-shoot ratio while root length was positively and significantly correlated with
other parameters. Root/shoot ratio was positively and significantly correlated with
all parameters. Seedling biomass has positive and significant genotypic and
phenotypic correlations with all the parameters. Leaf length, leaf width and leaf
area also have positive and significant correlation among each other and other
parameters. The estimates of the heritability were high for seedling length, root
length, moderate for the root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass and primary leaf area
and slightly low for the primary leaf length and leaf width. Higher estimates of
heritability and positive correlation coefficients for seedling length, root length,
seedling biomass, leaf length, leaf width and leaf area suggest that selection of
elite genotypes at seedling level might be effective for further breeding programme.
Keywords:
Cicer arietinum L., genetic variability, heritability, correlation coefficients,
seedling traits
INTRODUCTION
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the third leading grain legume in the world and
first in the South Asia among the pulses. Ninety two percent of the area and
eighty nine percent of the production of grain are concentrated in semi-arid
tropical countries (Anonymous, 1995). It has two types i.e. Kabuli and Desi. The
former is grown in temperate regions while the latter i.e desi type is grown in
semi-arid tropics (Muehlbauer and Singh, 1987). Chickpea is the most important
rabi pulse crop of Pakistan predominantly grown in vast rainfed area which 1046
thousand hectares with an annual production of 823 thousand tons and an
average yield of 786.68 kg ha-1(Anonymous, 2007-2008). Chickpea is the
cheapest and readily available source of protein (19.5%), fats (11.4%),
carbohydrates (57-60%), ash (4.8%) and moisture (4.9-15.59%) (Huisman et al.,
1994).
Despite its nutritional values and economic importance, chickpea grain
production is relatively low in Pakistan as compared to world. This is primarily
due to poor genetic makeup of cultivars available. Genetic variability is a
prerequisite for any breeding programme, which provides opportunity to a plant
breeder for selecting high yielding genotypes.The present study was conducted
to collect information on genetic variability and interrelationship for seedling
parameters and their associations in chickpea to suggest selection criteria for
future breeding programme.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present study was conducted in the Department of Plant Breeding and
Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during 2007-2008. Seventy elite
genotypes inclusive ten check varieties (Piadar-91, AUG-27, Pb2000, CM-98,
AUG-786, Balkasar-2000, AUG-424, Noor-91, Bittle-98 and Wanhar-2000.) were
sown in RCBD with three replications. Seedling lengths were calculated after
eight days as 100 percent germination completed after first seedling appearance.
Similarly the data for other seedling parameters was recorded and subjected to
statistical analysis (Steel et al., 1997). Genotypic and phenotypic correlation
coefficients were calculated (Kown and Torrie, 1964). The estimation of
heritability and genetic advance were calculated as described by (Falconer
,1989).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Coefficients of variation
The highest genotypic and phenotypic variance was found for root length for the
seedlings of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) shown in table I, while the lowest
genotypic and phenotypic variance was for primary leaf length. The highest
environmental variance was found for root length and lowest for root/shoot ratio.
(Waldia et al., 1991, 1996) studied that seed size is a stable and highly heritable
character as compare to other quantitative traits in chickpea.
Low coefficients of variation was found for seedling length (0.76%) moderate for
root length (2.48%), seedling biomass (2.81%) and root/shoot ratio (3.74%) while
primary leaf length, leaf width and leaf area (5.76%, 5.56% and 5.24%) had high
coefficients of variability in chickpea (Table II). Genotypic coefficients of variation
were found lower for primary leaf length, leaf width, root/shoot ratio (0.589%,
0.567% and 0.645%) and seedling biomass (0.924%). It was moderate for
seedling length (4.178%) and primary leaf area (3.831%) but higher genotypic
coefficient of variance was found for root length (10.056%). Phenotypic
coefficients of variability were observed lower for primary leaf length, leaf width,
root/shoot ratio (0.652%, 0.607% and 0.662%) and seedling biomass (0.950%)
while it was moderate for seedling length (4.021%) and primary leaf area
(3.926%) but higher genotypic coefficient of variance was found for root length
(10.259%). Wahid and Ahmed (1999) studied that the phenotypic coefficient of
variation was found greater than GCV and ECV.
Table 1. Genetic parameters for various physiological traits in chickpea.
Traits
Seedling
Mean Sums Standard
Genotypic
Phenotypic
Environmental
of squares
deviation
variance
variance
variance
2.175**
7.568
7192.17
7249.45
57.276
3.044**
14.134
9947.900
10147.69
199.786
0.817
24.384
25.052
0.667
1.029**
1.565
94.314
97.059
2.744
0.011**
1.875
33.199
36.716
3.517
0.007**
1.233
21.811
23.333
1.521
0.123**
5.382
399.924
3.926
0.096
length
Root
length
Root/shoot 0.008**
ratio
Seedling
biomass
Primary
leaf length
Primary
leaf width
Primary
leaf area
** = highly significant at 5% level.
Heritability and genetic advance
High heritability estimates (Table II) were observed for seedling length
(99.21%), root length (98.03%), root-to-shoot ratio (97.34%), seedling biomass
(97.17%) and primary leaf area (97.56%) while slight less for primary leaf length
(90.42%) and primary leaf width (93.48%) genetic advance of 148.23, 173.125,
16.771, 8.564, 34.466, 9.571 and 7.884 respectively. High heritability estimates
were reported by (Waldia et al., 1991) for seed mass and seedling length, root
length and seedling biomass. The highest genetic advance was found for root
length and seedling length. (Ozcelik et al., 2004) determined high heritability and
correlation between seed yield and some characters of newly registered
chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars. (Arshad et al.,2002) studied high
heritability and genetic advance for plant height.
Table II. Genetic parameters for various physiological traits in chickpea.
Traits
Coefficient
Phenotypic
Genotypic
Environmental Broad
Genetic
Standard
of
coefficient
coefficient
coefficient
advance
error
variation
of variation of variation variation %
heritability
%
heritability.
%
%
%
0.76
4.178
4.021
0.033
99.21
148.230
0.001
Root length
2.48
10.056
10.259
0.202
98.03
173.250
0.001
Root/shoot
3.74
0.645
0.662
0.018
97.34
16.771
0.018
2.81
0.924
0.950
0.027
97.17
8.564
0.009
Primary leaf 5.76
0.589
0.652
0.062
90.42
9.571
0.015
0.567
0.607
0.039
93.48
7.884
0.019
3.831
3.926
0.096
97.56
34.466
0.005
Seedling
of sense
length
ratio
Seedling
biomass
length
Primary leaf 5.56
width
Primary leaf 5.24
area
Correlation coefficients
The data in (Table III) revealed the genotypic and phenotypic correlations
among the components. The seedling length was positive and significantly
correlated with the root length, root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass, primary leaf
length, leaf width and leaf area (P< 0.05) at genotypic level while the correlation
coefficient being highly significant (P< 0.01) at the phenotypic level. (Sial et al.,
2003) studies that genotypic coefficients of variation in chickpea (Cicer arietinum
of
L.) were low for all the characters like seed weight per plant, plant height, number
of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, number of branches per plant,
number of days taken flowering, number of days taken to maturity and 100-seed
weight. Wahid and Ahmed (1999) studied a strong and positive correlation for
plant height and pods per plant with seed yield in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).
The root length was negatively and non-significantly correlated with the
root/shoot ratio at phenotypic and genotypic level. The root length was positively
correlated with the seedling length, seedling biomass, primary leaf length, leaf
width and leaf areas (P< 0.05) at genotypic level while the correlation coefficient
being highly significant (P< 0.01) at the phenotypic level. The selection can be
made on the basis of root length for drought tolerance. Significant differences
were found in total root length, root volume and root dry weight, the highest
correlation with the total root length at the seedling stage by Ganjeali and Kafi
(2007).
The root/shoot ratio was positively correlated with the seedling length,
root length, seedling biomass, primary leaf length, leaf width and leaf area (P<
0.05) at genotypic level while the correlation coefficient being highly significant
(P< 0.01) at the phenotypic level. The seedling biomass was positively correlated
with the primary seedling length, root length root/shoot ratio , primary leaf length,
leaf width and leaf area (P< 0.05) at genotypic level while the correlation
coefficient being highly significant (P< 0.01) at the phenotypic level. Toker and
Cagrirgan (2004) estimated that the grain yield was positively and significantly
correlated with biological yield and with some other traits.
The primary leaf length was positively correlated with the seedling length,
root length, root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass, leaf width and leaf area (P< 0.05)
at genotypic level while the correlation coefficient being highly significant (P<
0.01) at the phenotypic level. (Rehman et al., 1996) reported that grain yield was
positively associated with 100-seed weight, pods per plant, seeds per pod and
plant height.
The primary leaf width was positively correlated with the seedling length,
root length, root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass, leaf length and leaf area (P< 0.05)
at genotypic level while the correlation coefficient being highly significant (P<
0.01) at the phenotypic level. Wahid and Ahmed (1999) studied that plant height
and pods per plant had a strong and positive association with the seed yield.
Table III: Correlation of various genotypic and phenotypic
quantitative traits
Character
Seedling
Length
Correlation Root Length Root/Shoot
Ratio
G
0.75369*
0.35752*
P
Root Length G
Root/Shoot
Ratio
Seedling
Biomass
Primary
Leaf length
Primary
Leaf Width
Primary
Leaf Length
0.60215*
Primary
Primary
Leaf Width Leaf Area
0.58873*
0.42176*
0.35096**
-0.09443
0.49887** 0.57218**
0.48084*
0.55877*
0.53747**
0.50978*
0.41539**
0.40394*
-0.09119
0.47179** 0.52946**
0.37024* 0.32772*
0.49171**
0.24919*
0.39729**
0.18511*
P
G
0.35863** 0.30814**
0.49044*
0.23630**
0.39323*
0.18007**
0.23050*
P
G
0.45680**
0.37449**
0.91987*
0.22445**
0.84406*
0.84684**
0.80209**
0.82737
P
G
0.74207**
Seedling
Biomass
0.50669*
P
G
P
0.80296**
* = Significant at 5% probability level
** = Highly significant at 1% probability level
The primary leaf area was positively correlated with the seedling length,
root length, root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass, leaf length and leaf area (P< 0.05)
at genotypic level while the correlation coefficient being highly significant (P<
0.01) at the phenotypic level. The broad and long primary leaf at the seedling
stage could be used as an early and efficient indicator for the selection of large
seeded and long hypocotyls plants in the segregation population (Khattak et al.,
2003).
Conclusions
Correlations of different seedling parameters were found to be associated
with each other positively and significantly. On the basis of these results, it was
concluded that seedling length, root length, seedling biomass, leaf length, leaf
width and leaf area significantly related with the seedling health. We can select
genotypes at seedling level for improvement.
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