Heritability, Genetic Advance and Correlation Analysis for Grain Yield and Yield Components of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The experiment was performed to evaluate heritability, genetic advance and genetic correlation for grain yield and its components, in F1 populations by line x tester fashion. The results showed that most traits demonstrated high heritability, except for days to maturity (49%), which displayed moderate heritability. The traits like pods per plant (2.848), 100 seed weight (2.772), number of nodules per plant (2.529), grain yield per plant (3.081) and harvest index (3.786) exhibited a significant genetic advance. Grain yield exhibited positive and significant genetic correlations with pods per plant (0.878), root length (0.878), 100 seed weight (0.929), number of nodules per plant (0.913), and harvest index (0.964) but negative correlations with traits like days to maturity (-0.492) and plant height (-0.266). Correlated response analysis highlighted traits that positively influenced grain yield and suggested indirect selection or index selection for improvement.