Genetic Variability and Phenotypic Correlation in some Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Genotypes

Abstract

Nineteen chickpea genotypes were evaluated at Shambat, College of Agricultural studies, Sudan University of Science and Technology in the period from Dec. 2012 to Feb.2013 .The experiment design was a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. Nine growth and yield characters were measured. Genotypic Coefficient of variation, heritability, genetic advance and phenotypic correlation were determined for the nine characters. The results showed highly significant differences for all the studied characters except number of branches per plant. The highest GCV was given by of number pods per plant and the lowes was recorded for 100- seed weight (g). High estimates of heritability (h2 50) were obtained for days to 50% flowering and the lowest estimates of (h2 ≤ 20) was obtained seed yield (kg/ha) .There were significant positive phenotypic correlations between grain yield (kg/ha) and days to 50% flowering. Based on the result obtained, it could be concluded that days to 50% flowering was the effective character to select for improving the crop genotypes. The genotype Salwa scored the highest seed yield 22.35(kg/ha) among the studied genotypes.