Diversity analysis of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) germplasm and its implications for conservation and crop breeding

The exploration of genetically variable accessions is the key source of germplasm conservation and potential breeding material for the future. The more diverse group of cultivars provides an ample opportunity to breeders for releasing new and superior varieties, considering their quality traits for direct commercial utilization. In this study, we assessed the genetic diversity of Cicer arietinum 70 accessions from Pakistan and USA using morphological traits, seed protein and molecular markers. Based on four morphological traits, the average coefficient of variation was calculated as 56.8% with significant correlation among yield traits. The analysis revealed that the accessions 1898, 2819, 3022, 3037, 3040, 3043, 3054, 3059 and 3063 were best in performance with a total of 12% environmental error. The cluster analysis based on protein data revealed 50% genetic diversity among accessions. The clustering pattern did not show any grouping that could be attributed to either the geographic distribution or the field performance. For molecular characterization of germplasm 5 PCR based RAPD primers, OPA4, OPA9, OPG13, UBC181 and UBC733b used were found to be polymorphic with 37% genetic diversity among local and exotic accessions. Whereas, 3 SSR primers viz., CaSTMS2, CaSTMS15 and CaSTMS21 scored the genetic variability up to 55% by cluster analysis through UPGMA percent disagreement. The primers, TA72 and TA130 were linked with yield related traits, indicated highest dissimilarity index value (0.69) and notable variation in the identified promising lines. The Morphometric, Biochemical and Molecular markers reported here, are helpfulto assess the extent of genetic diversity among Chickpea accessions and can be used to identify the unreported cultivars with desirable quantitative traits for improving Chickpea yield in Pakistan. Based on the study, the accessions 3043 and 3054 have been recommended to the breeders for their future use in multiplication and screening against various diseases.