Tapping wild Cicer species for enhancing variability in the cultivated genepool for chickpea breeding

Wild relatives represent valuable reservoirs of novel genes and alleles that can be harnessed to enhance climate resilience in cultivated crops. In chickpea, the use of wild Cicer species has opened new avenues for broadening the genetic base of elite cultivars. In the present study, Cicer reticulatum (ICC 17264) and Cicer echinospermum ( IG 69978) were used as donor parents. At the same time, the ‘desi’ landrace ICC 4958 served as the recurrent parent to develop a pre-breeding population with enhanced genetic variability. A set of 300 BC₂F₄ introgression lines (ILs) derived from this population was evaluated during the 2018-19 post-rainy season at ICRISAT, Patancheru. The experiment was conducted in an augmented design with four checks: ICC 4958, JG 14, JG 130, and ICCV 10. The objectives were to identify high-yielding introgression lines and to assess the extent of genetic variability and inheritance patterns for yield and associated traits. Significant variation was observed among the ILs across all traits studied, indicating successful introgression of useful variation from wild donors. Ten superior ILs, along with several trait-specific promising lines, were identified as potential resources for future chickpea improvement programmes. Selection was primarily based on seed yield per plant, pod weight per plant, biological yield, number of seeds per plant, and number of effective pods per plant. Most of the traits exhibited significant positive correlations with seed yield per plant. In contrast, days to 50% flowering, days to flowering, and days to maturity were not significantly associated with yield. Cluster analysis grouped the ILs into three distinct clusters, with the ten superior ILs and the best-performing check, ICC 4958, grouped in Cluster I. Principal component analysis further revealed that pods per plant, pod weight per plant, seeds per plant, and biological yield were strongly associated with seed yield per plant and contributed substantially to variation in the first principal component (PC1). These results suggest that seed yield per plant can serve as a reliable indicator for selecting yield-contributing traits in the chickpea breeding programme.