Phenotypic variability of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) germplasm with temporally varied collection from the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Information on the diversity changes occurring in farmers’ field overtime is very important for effective genetic resource conservation and use. Thus, this study was initiated to investigate the phenotypic diversity changes between the current (2017) and previous chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) collections (1979–1983) of the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. An experiment was conducted using simple lattice design with two replications at Debra Zeit Agricultural Research Center for two consecutive years (2018/2019 to 2019/2020). Genetic erosion of 30.4% to 100% was recorded in chickpea for the past 35 years in the study areas. Shannon-Weaver diversity index estimates of black seeded and ivory white seeded chickpea types decreased from 1.99 to 0.69 and 1.33 to 0.0 in the past 35 years, respectively. In previous collections, 25.8% of black and 6.5% of white-coated genotypes were observed, while these chickpea types were rare (black 6.5%) or unobtainable (white 0.0%) in current collections. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between mean of current and previous collections for plant height, days to 50% flowering and podding, days to 90% maturity, number of primary and secondary branches, number of pods per plant, thousand Seed weight, and grain yield tested at the individual site. Cluster analysis showed that genotypes were clustered with respect to the time of collections and irrespective of their source of origins. Generally, chickpea genotypes of current and previous collections were distinct from one another. Black and white seeded chickpea landraces were vulnerable to genetic erosion and it is recommended to implement immediate restoration of chickpea landraces to recover and maintain the lost chickpea landraces in the studied region.

Keywords

• chickpea
• chickpea landrace
• genetic erosion
• landraces
• phenotypic diversity