Agro-morphological traits and molecular characterization of Turkish wild chickpea (Cicer reticulatum L.) genotypes

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) has an important place with its high protein content as food in Türkiye. This research was conducted in 2022 and 2023 growing seasons under Sivas ecological conditions using 10 control varieties and 86 wild chickpea genotypes in an augmented experimental design. The mean days to emergence was 21.7 days, days to flowering was 57.1 days, days to first pod setting was 65.89 days, days to maturity was 101.64 days, plant height was 32.35 cm, first pod height was 8.20 cm, number of pods per plant was 102.02, number of grains per plant was 97.94, grain weight per plant was 13.30 g, hundred grain weight was 14.72 g, biological yield was 622.1 kg da-1, grain yield was 132.96 kg da-1 and harvest index was 20.55%. In the principal components biplot analysis, the first main component accounted for 48.6% of the variation, the second main component accounted for 24.4% of the variation and 73% of the total variation. Upon examining the biplot graph, a positive relationship was observed among emergence period, flowering period, pod-setting period, and maturation period. Similarly, plant height, first pod height, 100-seed weight, above-ground biological yield, grain yield, and harvest index were positively correlated with each other, while the number of pods per plant and the number of seeds per plant also showed a positive correlation. As a result of the molecular analysis, the average allele numbers for IPBS-retrotransposon, SCoT, and SSR markers were calculated as 12.9, 11.43, and 4.2, respectively, while the average PIC values were calculated as 0.60, 0.76, and 0.85, respectively. Additionally, alleles associated with traits such as first pod height, seed weight per plant, 100-seed weight, number of pods per plant, number of branches, grain yield, seed size, and ascochyta blight disease were identified in the chickpea genotypes.