Genetic variability, character association and coheritability for yield traits over the locations in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The present investigation was carried out during rabi 2016–17 at five different locations (Raipur, Bhatapara, Bemetera, Kabirdham and Korea) in Chhattisgarh to study the genetic variability, character association and coheritability for yield traits viz., days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, pods per plant, 100-seed weight (g) and seed yield (Kg/ha). Results revealed that phenotypic coefficients of variation were marginally higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation indicating the influence of environment in the expression of the characters under study. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for days to 50% flowering in all the locations except Bhatapara, for days to maturity in Korea, for plant height in Raipur, Bhatapara and Korea, for pods/plant in Raipur and Bhatapara and for 100 seed wt. (g) in all the locations indicating the role of additive genetic variance in the expression of these traits. Correlation studies revealed that the phenotypic and genotypic correlations in general are similar in direction but the magnitude of genotypic correlation was higher than the phenotypic correlations. Results of coheritability analysis indicated that, in general, estimates of phenotypic covariances were higher than the corresponding genotypic covariances indicating the effect of environment for expression of the traits studied.