Investigation on Genetic Variability in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under Heat Stress Condition

The present experiment was carried out at field experimentation centre of the Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) to study genetic variability, correlation and path analysis in fifty germplasm of chickpea during rabi, 2017-18. The maximum phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) were noticed for 100-seed weight, biological yield per plant, grain yield per plant and number of primary branches per plant. High heritability were recorded by 100 seed weight, biological yield per plant, primary branches per plant, grain yield per plant, effective pods per plant, total number of pods per plant, secondary branches per plant, plant height, days to 50% flowering and days to maturity. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean was observed for 100 seed weight, biological yield per plant, primary branches per plant, grain yield per plant, effective pods per plant, total number of pods per plant, secondary branches per plant and plant height which suggested that these characters can be considered as favorable attributes for the improvement through selection. Path coefficient analysis for grain yield per plant revealed that biological yield, harvest index, secondary branches, canopy temperature at vegetative stage, effective pods per plant had given the highest contribution on yield per plant. So the utmost importance should be given to these characters during the selection for yield improvement in late sown chickpea.