PATTERNS OF MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND CHARACTER ASSOCIATION IN CHICKPEA GENOTYPES THROUGH MULTIVARIATE APPROACH Authors: N. N. Nawab, G. M. Subhani, M. N. Ullah Journal: Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences (JAPS) ISSN: 1018-7081 (Print), 2309-8694 (Online) Volume: 23 Issue: 4 Pages: 1107-1114 Year: 2013 DOI: NA URL: https://doi.org/NA Publisher: Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum Abstract:

Pattern of morphological diversity and character association in twenty chickpea genotypes was assessed through multivariate approach. Three principal components were deduced (eigen value > 1) which contributed to a total of 62.83% variability among the genotypes. PC-I contributed 34.78% to total variation. Factor loadings revealed that all the characters contributed positively to PC-I except days to flowering and plant height. Days to flowering exerted maximumnegative load on the factor I while the highest positive contribution to the PC-I was endorsed by number of pods/plant, seeds/plant, biological yield, and grain yield/plant. Secondary branches, plant height, seeds/plant, 100-seed weight and biological yield had positive weight on PC-II where secondary branches followed by plant height showed the maximumcontribution. Days to maturity, primary branches, plant height, seeds/pod and 100-seed weight exerted positive factor loadings on PC-III among which the highest weight was contributed by plant height followed by number of primary branches. Cluster I and II comprised of seven lines each. Long duration genotypes with high number of seeds/pod came under cluster I. However, the cluster II, classified genotypes with better grain yield and its components. However, the other six genotypes were long duration with maximum plant height and fell in cluster III. This study suggested enough scope for selection for grain yield and its components.

Keywords: Chickpea genotypes, Multivariate approach, Principal components, Eigen value, PC-I, PC-II, PC-III, Factor loadings, Total variation, Cluster analysis, Grain yield, Biological yield, Morphological diversity, Factor loading, Variability