Evaluation of genetic diversity and morphological traits of Kabuli and Desi chickpea germplasm

Knowledge of the relation between agronomical traits with economical yield is very important in crop improvement and breeding. In order to study of genetic diversity and identifying yield components، 568 Kabuli type germplasm and 390 Desi type chickpea germplasm that were available in pulses collection of Faculty of Agriculture، University of Tehran، was investigated in this research in 2009 in two separate experiments based on Augmented design. The traits were included data to 50% flowering، 100 mature seeds weight، plant height، no. of pods/plant، no. of seeds/pod، no. of branches/plant and seed yield. The results of the phenotypic correlation and stepwise regression showed that in both Kabuli and Desi chickpea types، no. of pods per plant، 100 seed weight and plant height are important and effective traits on yield. Also، results of path analysis showed that in both chickpea types، the number of pods per plant imposed the largest direct effects on yield. According to principal component analysis using seven agronomic traits in both chickpea types، three main components were selected that in total، they explained %61. 3 of variation in Kabuli type and %66. 5 in Desi chickpea type genotypes، respectively. In both chickpea types، first and second component were introduced as components of yield and yield components and third component was introduced as a phonological component. Genotypes grouping in both Kabuli and Desi chickpea types were conducted based on studying traits with Ward''s method and the square Euclidean distance and in both types studying genotypes were grouped in four clusters.