Path coefficient analysis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under rainfed conditions

Variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation coefficients and path coefficients for yield and its components were conducted in 24 advance lines of chickpea. High heritability with low genetic advance of days to flowering, days to maturity and 100 seed weight indicated the influence of dominant and epistatic genes for these traits. High heritability of secondary branches and biological yield coupled with high genetic advance revealed that additive gene effects are important in determining these characters. Grain yield had positive and significant correlation with plant height, pods per plant, 100-seed weight and biological yield. High direct effects were contributed by biological yield and harvest index although the later had negative association with grain yield. Moreover, it was noticed that high indirect contribution was via biological yield by most of the yield components and hence these two parameters (biological yield and harvest index) should be given more consideration while deciding about selection criteria of genotypes for rainfed conditions.