Assessment of Genetic Variability and Different Character Association in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under Late Sown Condition

In the present study, 102 chickpea germplasm showed wide range of variation for various characters evaluated during Rabi 2017-18 along with BG 372, Udai and Pant G 186 as checks varieties. The experiment was conducted in Augmented Block Design at Agronomy Research Farm of Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Narendra Nagar (Kumarganj), Ayodhya (U.P.). The observations were recorded on 11 quantitative characters viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity, primary branches per plant, secondary branches per plant, plant height (cm), pods per plant, seeds per pod, biological yield per plant (g), seed yield per plant (g), harvest index (%) and 100-seed weight (g). After analyzing the data statistical study of each characters genotypes revealed a wide range of results Genotypes GJG 1416 followed by BG 256, GJG 1416, PhuleG0819, IPC 2011-141 and IPC 1014 produced higher seed yield per plant and these genotypes constituted the top significant group for these traits..On other hand genotypes PDG 84-16, IPC 1014, H06-6, GJG 1401, GJG 1403 and JG2016-44 for early maturity;; BG 256, GJG 1209, GJG 1401, GJG 1416 and JG 11 were identified for high number of pods per plant; GJG 1416, GJG 1001, BG 256, RS 2011-06 and BG 3027 were identified for bold seed size; IPC 1014, PhuleG0805 and IPC 2010-134 for harvest index were found promising which may be used as potential donors for the traits in chickpea improvement programme. Seed yield per plant exhibited positive and highly significant correlations with secondary branches per plant, pods per plant, seeds per pod, biological yield per plant, harvest index and 100-seed weight. The positive significant correlations of seed yield per plant were found with primary branches per plant and non-significant with plant height. It exhibited negative non-significant association with days to 50 per cent flowering and days to maturity.