Estimation of Genetic Variability and Correlation Analysis for Quantitative Traits in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The present investigation were to assess the Genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation coefficient analysis and path coefficient analysis for chickpea(Cicer arietinum.L) genotypes for 13 quantitative traits during Rabi 2021-2022 at field experiment center, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Agriculture Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Uttar Pradesh . To perform the study, 13 quantitative traits of 31 chickpea genotypes were measured using Randomized Block Design replicated thrice. The mean sum of Squares due to genotypes showed significant differences for all the characters under study at 1% level of significance. The estimates of the phenotypic coefficient of variation found higher than their corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation which indicates the presence of environment effect on expression on characters studied. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean was observed for the traits like Number of pods per plant, Seed yield per plant, Harvest index and Biological yield per plant Indicates that most likely the heritability might be due to additive gene effect and selection may be effective segregating generations for improvement of traits. Seed yield per plant exhibited significant and positive correlation with Plant height, Seed index, Biological yield per plant , Number of secondary branches and Number of pods per plant was found to possess positive significant association with grain yield per plant both genotypic and phenotypic level. Further, correlation and path analysis also proved the importance of Plant height, Seed index and Harvest index. Hence, they could be used as selection indices for further improvement in Chickpea varieties.