Characterization of chickpea genotypes for morpho-physiological and nutritional traits by SSR markers

Chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) is an important leguminous crop that is an important source of plant-based proteins. Twenty-five genotypes of chickpea were analyzed for genetic diversity using morpho-physiological, and nutritional by simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. This investigation was carried out at the experimental farm of Division of Plant Breeding and Genetics of SKUAST, Jammu during rabi 2024-25. The study was aimed to find out the correlation, path analyses, genetic diversity and characterization with SSRs. A total of twelve traits exhibited additive gene action while six traits exhibited non-additive gene action which indicates the use of direct phenotypic selection and selection in later generations, respectively. Seed yield per plant was significantly positively correlated with the number of pods per plant followed by biological yield per plant, 100 seed weight and protein content. Path analysis revealed that the traits namely number of primary branches per plant, pod length, number of seeds per plant, proline content, biological yield per plant, harvest index,100 seed weight, relative water content, protein content, zinc content and phytic acid content showed positive direct effects on seed yield per plant. Analysis of D ² statistics diversified the genotypes into 4 clusters on the basis of morpho-physiological and nutritional traits, respectively. Cluster-IV was found to have the maximum number of genotypes (9). The genotypes under study were also characterized for genetic diversity with 25 SSR markers. Among these markers, 6 were found polymorphic, with the PIC value ranging from 0.25–0.84. The highest PIC value was found in TR-20(0.84), followed by TA-3(0.83) and TA-78(0.77) indicating the ability of these markers in future use for polymorphism studies. Jaccard's similarity coefficient diversified the genotypes into 4 clusters, where cluster I was found to have 19 genotypes and Cluster III 4 genotypes, Cluster I and IV had single genotype each. Genotype Jammu Chickpea 4 was found to exhibited several traits such as plant height (cm), number of seeds per pod (g), while genotype H20-01 exhibited traits such as plant height (cm), number of primary branches per plant, selenium content(ppm), chlorophyll content and TSK-1 exhibited several traits such as protein content (%), biological yield per plant and number of pods per plant. Thus, these lines may be use as donors and are recommended for hybridization in chickpea improvement programmes.