Phylogenetic relationships of perennial chickpea species Cicer microphyllum (Benth.) with its annual relatives as revealed by allozyme polymorphism

Phylogenetic relationships of Cieer mierophyllum Benth., a perennial chickpea species found in India and Pakistan, were studied with all annual Cieer species. The data on allozyme polymorphism were used to calculate Nei's genetic distance between species. An unweighted paired group method with arithmetic averaging (UPGMA) was used to develop phylogenetic tree from the value of Nei's genetic distances. Four phylogenetic groups were identified. The cultivated chickpea (C. arietinum L.), its wild progenitor (C. retieulatum Lad.) and C. eehinospermum formed one group, whereas C. bijugum, C. judsieum and C. plnnatlfldum formed another group. The perennial species, C. mlerophyllum, clustered with C. ehorassanieum and C. yamashltae and formed the third group. C. cuneatum was the only species in fourth phylogenetic group. C. mlerophyllum, showed largest distance from the species of the phylogenetic group that contains the cultlgen suggesting that it may be difficult to cross this species with the cultigen and its closely related species.