Impact of genotype × environment interactions on the relative performance of diverse groups of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars

Abstract

The present experiments were undertaken to understand genotype (G) × environment (E) interactions for quantitative traits among 108 diverse genotypes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum), in diverse planting environments. Genotypes were divided into four groups based on seed size: (i) Desi-medium seeded (ii) desi-bold seeded (iii) kabuli-bold seeded and (iv) kabuli-extra bold seeded, and planted under three contrasting environments: normal, medium and late planting. There were highly significant differences for plant height, number of branches and pods per plant, 100-seed weight and biological and seed yield per plant under different planting environments. The majority of genotypes showed a complete absence of G × E interactions while a limited number of genotypes showed their suitability for favorable planting environments having both a significant high regression as well as a high mean yield. A sizable number of genotypes showed stable yield performance over all the environments indicating their high general adaptability. Clustering of genotypes indicated clear-cut placement of high, medium and low yielding genotypes into separate clusters. Thus it was suggested that the expressivity of individual quantitative traits is controlled by different genes and is greatly influenced by environmental changes. The genotypes showed specific adaptation to high fertility conditions were BG 374, Phule G 5, BGD 70 and F 7-123 and general adaptation across the environments like BG 256, 362, 390, 1103 of desi types and BG 1053, 1088, 1105, and 1108 of kabuli types.

Keywords:

• chickpea
• G × E interactions
• planting environments

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and J. V. College, Baraut, Baghpat, U.P., India for their generous research support. The authors are highly thankful to Dr S. A. Patil, Director IARI, New Delhi, for providing all the essential facilities to complete the research programmes in the fields as well as in the laboratories. This work could not have been attempted without considerable technical assistance during the course of investigation. In this context the authors would like to thank particularly Dr R.S. Kushwaha, Division of Plant Physiology, Mr N.S. Hooda, Mr Bishnath, Mr Bharat Singh, Mr Jai Kishan, Mr Sitaram Rai, Mr Binda Lal and Mrs Urmila Devi, Division of Genetics, IARI, New Delhi-12, Manav Yadav and Mandi Lynn Pairish for their edits and last-minute help.