PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Cicer arietinum L., an important grain legume grown predominantly in arid and semi-arid regions and plays a vital role in human nutrition and sustainable agriculture. However, its productivity is sternly constrained by an array of biotic and abiotic stresses necessitating the exploration of genetic diversity for breeding resistant/tolerant and productive cultivar (s). The present investigation aimed to assess the putative molecular diversity present among 69 genotypes of desi chickpea employing 12 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers during the Rabi 2022-23 at the Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, RVSKVV, Gwalior. Out of the 12 SSR markers, five exhibited clear polymorphism, yielding 15 polymorphic alleles with an average of three alleles per locus. The major allele frequency ranged between 0.6857 to 0.8000 with a mean value of 0.7343, while gene diversity varied between 0.3335 to 0.4604 with an average worth of 0.4046. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values spanned from 0.2994 to 0.3947 for the marker TA-130, reflecting moderate informativeness. Cluster analysis employing UPGMA based on SSR data grouped the genotypes into distinct clusters, indicating existence of substantial genetic variability. Remarkably, one cluster comprised a single unique genotype, underscoring its putative potential possessing novel alleles. The genetic divergence observed among clusters highlights opportunities for exploiting these genotypes in recombination breeding to enhance yield and resistance. Overall, the study underlines the utility of SSR markers in dissecting genetic diversity and providing a foundation for the strategies selection of diverse parental line (s), thereby advancing chickpea crop improvement programmes aimed to achieve durable disease resistance with enhanced productivity.