ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chickpea has been traditionally a low-input crop in the farming systems of the Near-East and the Indian subcontinent where it is an integral part of the daily diet of the people. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum), is a diploid (2n = 16), self-pollinated, important annual cool season legume crop widely cultivated in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The crop legume is represented by its two cultivated forms, the small and dark coloured seeds, desi type and the larger beige coloured kabuli type seeds. Chickpea seeds function as an upscale supply of proteins, carbohydrates and essential minerals, particularly within the vegetarian diet of the developing countries. With ever increasing global population and decrease in land resources, accommodating more plants per square unit of area will be necessary to enhance the yield and productivity in this legume crop. This can be achieved by modifying the plant architecture from the most prevalent spreading and semi-spreading type to erect plant types. Keeping that in mind, the present study aims at identifying major QTLs responsible for the plant growth habit in chickpea. An interspecific bi-parental mapping population [ICC 4958 (Desi) x ICC 17160 (Wild)] advanced till F10 generation was utilized as the genetic resource. The 285 mapping individuals of this well phenotyped F10 mapping population were genotyped by screened parental polymorphic simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers. QTL mapping utilizing the phenotyping data along with the marker genotyping data of the mapping population identified a major QTL in the linkage group 8 between marker pg18_19 and pg18_22. Identifying QTLs and genes regulating this trait will help in understanding the genetic basis of plant growth habit modulation. Markers closely linked to the trait can be utilized in developing high yielding chickpea cultivars through the marker-assisted breeding approach.
Keywords: Cicer arietinum, Plant growth habit, Recombinant Inbred Lines, SSR markers, Linkage map, QTL mapping.
