Selection Indices in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

Sixty-three selection indices involving seed yield per plant and its five components were constructed using discriminate function technique. The efficiency of selection increased with inclusion of more characters in the index. The index based on five characters viz., seed yield per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index, 100-seed weight and number of pods per plant recorded maximum genetic gain (54.522g) and relative efficiency (809.893%) followed by index based on all the six characters namely seed yield per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index, 100-seed weight, number of pods per plant and days to maturity which possessed genetic gain and relative efficiency of 54.289g and 806.432%, respectively. The use of both these indices is advocated for selecting high yielding genotypes of chickpea.