Molecular Diversity Analysis of Chickpea Genotypes belonging to Nodulating Groups

Six chickpea genotypes belonging to three nodulating groups along with their 4 F₁’s were used to assess the genetic diversity using RAPD markers. Twenty eight (28) out of 34 primers screened were polymorphic. These primers generated 181 bands. Out of these, 88% bands were polymorphic. This study showed genotype as well as nodulation specific unique RAPD markers. Among these genotypes genetic similarity indices ranged from 0.419 to 0.872 indicating ample amount of genetic variation. The clustering pattern had six major groups among which non-nodulating, medium nodulating and high nodulating parents were grouped into three distinct clusters. Based on the RAPD data the F₁’s grouped in distinct clusters. Morphological variation for nodulation showed corollary with their molecular diversity thus describing that the RAPD markers may be efficiently used for making desirable selection for nodulation behavior in chickpea.