Abstract
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a cheap source of protein and rich in minerals for people living in developing countries. In order to assess the existing molecular genetic diversity and determine population structures in selected Ethiopian chickpea germplasm accessions (118), a set of 46 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers equally distributed on the chickpea genome were genotyped. A total of 572 alleles were detected from 46 SSR markers, and the number of alleles per locus varied from 2 (ICCM0289) to 28 (TA22). The average number of alleles per locus, polymorphism information content, and expected heterozygosity were 12, 0.684, and 0.699, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the 118 chickpea genotypes from diverse sources into three evolutionary and/or biological groups (improved desi, improved kabuli, and landraces). The population structure analysis revealed six sub-populations from 118 chickpea genotypes studied. AMOVA revealed that 57%, 29%, and 14% of the total genetic variations were observed among individuals, within populations, and among populations. The insights into the genetic diversity at molecular levels in the Ethiopian germplasm lines can be used for designing conservation strategies as well as the diverse germplasm lines identified in this study can be used for trait dissection and trait improvement.
Highlights
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a diploid crop plant (2n = 2x = 16) with a haploid genome size of approximately 740 Mb [1]
In Ethiopia, chickpea is consumed as a green vegetable, roasted, boiled, dry vegetable, ‘shimbra asa’, shiro wot, and snacks, which are cheap and healthy diets that are rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals for the poor farmers who cannot afford animal products
We report the assessment of molecular genetic diversity and population structures of 118 chickpea genotypes (115 Ethiopian chickpea landraces, breeding lines, and cultivars and 3 Indian elite varieties) by using 46 genome-wide simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers
Summary
In Ethiopia, chickpea is one of the most economically important legumes produced on an area of 258,486 ha, with a production of 470,000 tons [4,5,6]. Ethiopia is one of the top ten chickpea growing countries across the world and is the leading producer, consumer, and exporter of chickpeas in Africa [7]. In Ethiopia, chickpea is consumed as a green vegetable (eshet), roasted (kollo), boiled (nifro), dry vegetable, ‘shimbra asa’, shiro wot (sauce), and snacks, which are cheap and healthy diets that are rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals for the poor farmers who cannot afford animal products. Chickpea generates income for the poor farmers and draws foreign currency to the country, improves food and nutritional security and soil fertility, provides livestock feed, and requires low production costs [6,7,8]. The major chickpea growing zones of Ethiopia are South Gondar, North Gondar, East Gojam, West Gojam, North Shewa, East Shewa, West Shewa, South Wollo, North
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