Abstract
<p class="042abstractstekst">Root structure modification can improve important agronomic traits including yield, drought tolerance and nutrient deficiency resistance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the diversity of root traits and to find simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers linked to root traits in chickpea (<em>Cicer arietinum </em>L.). This research was performed using 39 diverse accessions of chickpea. The results showed that there is significant variation in root traits among chickpea genotypes. A total of 26 alleles were detected 26 polymorphic bands were produced by 10 SSR markers in the eight linkage groups (LG). The results indicated that there is substantial variability present in chickpea<strong> </strong>germplasm for root traits.<strong> </strong>By analyzing the population structure, four subpopulations were identified.<strong> </strong>PsAS2, AF016458, 16549 and 19075 SSR markers on LG1, LG3, LG2 and LG1 linkage group respectively were<strong> </strong>associated with root traits<strong>.</strong> The research findings provide valuable information for improving root traits for chickpea breeders.</p>
Highlights
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L., 2n = 16) as a third major legume in the world widely used for food and fodder
Root volume (RV) ranged from 3.75 cm3 (FLIP07-28C) to 22 cm3 (FLIP07-31C), with an average root volume of 11.5 cm3
root fresh mass (RFM) varied among genotypes and ranged from 2.69 g (FLIP0728C) to 22.52 g (FLIP09-192C)
Summary
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L., 2n = 16) as a third major legume in the world widely used for food and fodder. Numerous biotic and abiotic stresses affect the production and yield of chickpea of which drought is one of the most important abiotic constraints. Drought causes heavy production losses, about 45–50 % in chickpea (Ahmad et al, 2005). Genetic improvement over crop options for better adaptation to drought can be a sustainable and low-cost solution. It is very difficult to understand the maintenance of potential yield under drought stress, due to the different mechanisms used by plants to maintain growth under limited water resource, (Tuberosa & Salvi, 2006). The major challenges in identifying drought tolerance genotypes is drought interaction with the environment and its quantitative inheritance (Varshney et al, 2014)
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