Agronomic traits of twenty-one resistant, semi-resistant and susceptible chickpea genotypes to blight disease

Blight caused by Ascochyta rabiei is the most destructive disease of chickpea worldwide. Identification of agronomic and morphological properties of disease-resistant cultivars is necessary to set up a suitable chickpea breeding program.

Twelve agronomic and morphological properties of 21 resistant, semi-resistant, and susceptible chickpea genotypes were investigated in a field experiment in a randomized complete block design with six replications in one agronomic year in western Iran.

All genotypes were divided into three main clusters based on the UPGMA dendrogram. The lowest yielding genotypes were located in cluster II and IDDMAR-2012-32 genotype was susceptible to disease and desi-type in this cluster. The genotypes with the highest yield were placed in cluster III, and the genotype Gebres 419-2 was resistant to the disease and the desi-type in this cluster. Among the Kabuli-type genotypes, ILC482 was included in cluster III as a high-yielding and semi-disease-resistant cultivar, and low-yielding FLIp-02-65C and FLIp-01-164C lines along with disease resistance were included in cluster I.

Gebres 419-2 can be crossed with FLIp-02-65C or FLIp-01-164C to produce robust, high-yielding Kabuli chickpea varieties with large seeds.