Genetic variability of above- and belowground morphological traits in wild and cultivated chickpeas
2025
Fatma Basdemir
Wild relative species of cultivated plants possess resistance genes to withstand a/biotic stresses to survive in their natural environments. However, while aboveground traits have been widely studied, underground morphological characteristics remain largely unexplored. This study compared the root and shoot traits of 20 accessions of Cicer reticulatum, six of Cicer echinospermum, and one cultivated Cicer arietinum variety. Root length (RL), root fresh (RFW) and dry weight (RDW), number of nodules per plant (NNP), nodule fresh (NFW) and dry weight (NDW) were evaluated at flowering, along with plant height (PH), stem fresh (SFW) and dry weight (SDW). Significant differences were observed among wild and cultivated genotypes. Wild species exhibited robust root systems and greater nodule biomass compared with cultivated chickpea. Broad-sense heritability was moderate to high for root and shoot traits, and low for nodule traits. Genotypic correlations exceeded phenotypic ones, suggesting strong genetic associations. Path analysis indicated that NNP, RDW, and SFW exerted positive direct effects on SDW, highlighting their contribution to biomass accumulation. Principal component analysis explained 79.54% of the total variation, with PC1 (68.10%) dominated by SDW, SFW, RFW, and RDW. These findings underline the potential of wild Cicer species as valuable genetic resources for improving drought tolerance in chickpea.
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