Study the Genetic Diversity in Protein, Zinc and Iron in Germplasm Pools of Desi Type Chickpeas as Implicated in Quality Breeding

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important pulse crop with a wide range of potential nutritional benefits due to its chemical composition which is of immense importance. This study aimed to evaluate the variability of protein and micro nu-trients concentrations among chickpea genotypes. Eighty-one genotypes were col-lected and evaluated under the field at Jari, Sirinka and Kobo research field of Sirinka Agriculture research center, Amhara regional state, Ethiopia. A simple lattice design with two replications was used. Seeds were collected, dried and the powder was used for protein determination using near infrared reflectance spec-troscopy and micro nutrients atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Analysis of variance showed significant differences (p<0.01) among the genotypes, environ-ment, and genotype by environment interaction. Protein content ranged from 14.15% to 23.08% while micro nutrients varied from 3.07 mg/100 g to 10.40 mg/100 g for iron and 1.34 mg/100 g to 3.47 mg/100 g for zinc. Moderate to high genotypic variability for protein and micro nutrient content with high heritability and genetic advance mean indicated the scope for enhancement of traits through selection. Genetic diversity studies revealed five different cluster and that high proteins lines are grouped in cluster IV and lines with higher concentration of micro nutrients are grouped in clusters V. Systematic hybridization between promising lines for protein and micronutrients chosen from these clusters is sug-gested to study their combining ability and subsequent use in breeding programs intended to breed for superior chickpea cultivars.