MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS AND ASSOCIATION OF MORPHOAGRONOMIC TRAITS IN DESI-TYPE CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum L.) in BULE HORA, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Chickpea is one of most important pulse crops in Ethiopia. Despite its significance, the national average chickpea yield is low due to many constraints of which the unavailability of improved varieties for each growing and potential area. This research was conducted to evaluate genetic variability, association of traits, and determine the direct and indirect effects of traits on yield of chickpea genotypes. It was conducted at Bule Hora during 2022/23 cropping season that 36 Desi type of chickpea genotypes were evaluated using a 6 x 6 simple lattice design. The results of the analysis of variance showed the presence of significant variations among genotypes for nine characteristics. Furthermore, the genotypes displayed wide variability in grain yield, ranging from 410.7 to 3618.8 kg/ha. Phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic (GCV) coefficient of variations ranged from 5.32 to 41.77% and 3.43 to 37.45%, respectively. Heritability (H2) in broad sense and genetic advance as percent of mean (GAM) ranged from 23.91 to 80.40 and 5.89 to 69.18%, respectively. The estimates of GCV and PCV, H2 and GAM were high for number of pods per plant, seeds per plant in gram, and grain yield. Grain yield had positive and significant genotypic and phenotypic correlations with number of primary branches, plant height, number of pods per plant and seed yield per plant, of which plant height, number of pods per plant and seed yield per plant had direct positive genotypic and phenotypic effects on grain yield. This showed selection for these traits results in high yield. Days to flowering and maturity showed negative and significant correlation with grain yield, both parameters had positive direct genotypic effect on grain yield. The first three principal component axes (PCA) with Eigen values >1 accounted for 75.9% variation of genotypes. The genotypes were grouped into seven distinct clusters of which Cluster II, I and V consisted of 12 (33.33%), 10 (27.8%) and 5 (13.89%) genotypes, respectively, while the other four clusters consisted of 1 to 4 genotypes. Generally, the result of this research showed the presence of variations among Desi chickpea genotypes for yield and other traits that could be potentially exploited in future breeding programs.