INHERITANCE OF LEAF SHAPE IN THE CULTIVATED CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

The cultivated chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) possess mainly three leaf shapes, and multipinnate leaf shape has shown lower leaf miner damage (Liriomyza cicerina Rond.). Therefore, the study of the inheritance of leaf shape in cultivated chickpea has priority. For this purpose, ICC 6119 (multipinnate leaf) was crossed with Sierra (simple leaf) and ICC 4958 (normal leaves). In F1 generation, all filials had normal leaves since normal leaf shape was dominant over both multipinnate and simple leaves. In F2 generation, segregating progenies of the former crosses produced 109 normal leaves and 37 simple leaves, while the later crosses produced three shapes of leaves; 59 normal leaves, 18 multipinnate leaves and 27 simple leaves. The results suggested that the former and the later crosses were found to fit 12:4 and 9:3:4 patterns, respectively. It was concluded that leaf characteristics could be easily transferred from donor to receptor chickpea genotypes since leaf shape in the cultivated chickpea was governed by three factors.