Non-Peer ReviewedChickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the third important legume crop in production among the world
pulse crops. A better understanding of the genetic basis of yield and disease traits and their
association with flowering time could contribute to their use in the breeding strategies of the crop
in the Canadian Prairies. The objective of this study was to evaluate a set of Recombinant Inbred
Lines (RILs) of chickpea for yield and disease traits and to locate Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL)
associated with these traits. This study used a RIL population derived from across between ICCV
96029 (a desi market class, an extra early maturing, highly susceptible to ascochyta blight and
CDC Frontier (a kabuli market class, late maturing, moderately resistant to ascochyta blight. A
population consisting of 92 RILs together with the 2 parents were grown in a field at Elrose,
Saskatchewan in 2011 in a micro plot with 2 replications. Measurements on agronomic traits
were made on an individual plant basis and the means of five plants were used for analysis.
Plants were air-dried at 35°C for 48 h before measuring the above-ground biomass. Traits
measured were grain yield (in gm /plant), above ground biomass (in g/ plant), number of grains
/plant, number of pods/ plant, and 1000 seed weight. Harvest index (HI) = grain weight/total
above ground dry weight. The result indicated that, there was significant difference in plant
height (in cm), number of seeds /plant, number of seeds/pod, 1000 seeds weight (in gm/plant)
and Harvest Index (%). The same lines were evaluated in the greenhouse for Ascochyta blight
reaction and in the growth chambers for their flowering responses to different photoperiod.
Mapping of QTL will be performed on the line mean data for single years of the field
observation and for different photoperiod treatments in the growth chamber
