Evaluation of the agro-morphological variation of some Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) landraces in Jordan


Abstract in English

A study was conducted to evaluate the diversity among chickpeas accessions collected from Jordan for some morpho-agronomic traits, specially yield and its components. The evaluated material consisted of 137 accessions and three improved cultivars released in Jordan. The study was conducted at the Jordan University of Science and Technology Research Station using the augmented design. Some of the parameters used in the evaluation included the mean, standard deviation, range, coefficient of variation, diversity index. Also, a dendrogram to establish the relationship among locations where landraces were originally developed. Results indicated the presence of significant variability for all traits under investigation. Diversity index values (H′) exceeded 0.50 for all characters with the highest value for biological yield (0.84), followed by lowest pod height (0.82), grain yield (0.78), and straw yield (0.78). The following accessions were found to be superior over the improved cultivars in one or more of the studied characters: ILC 6941, ILC 6938, ILC 4411, and ILC 4096. These are important genetic resources for breeders to improve the chickpea crop. The results indicated the importance of the local landraces as a source of genetic variability that should be conserved, evaluated and utilized by breeders to improve the crop productivity and quality.

References used

Al-Nashash, A. A. 2002. Agro-morphological and molecular assessment of barley landraces ( Hordeum vulgare L.) in Jordan. MSc. Thesis, Faculty of Graduate Studies. University of Jordan. Amman. Jordan 82 Pages
Brush, S. B. 2000. The issues of in situ conservation of crop genetic resources. In: Brush, S. B. (edt.): Genes in the field. Pp: 2-26. Lewis Publishers. U.K
Fankel, O.H. and Hawkes, J.G. (eds.). 1975. Crop genetic resources for today and tomorrow. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge

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