Co-Authors:
Hovav, R., Dept. Fld. Crops, Vegetables Genet., Fac. Agric., Food Environ. Qual. S., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Upadhyaya, K.C., School of Life Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India
Beharav, A., Institute of Evolution, Haifa University, Mount Carmel, Israel
Abbo, S., Dept. Fld. Crops, Vegetables Genet., Fac. Agric., Food Environ. Qual. S., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Abstract:
The effect of the major flowering gene (PPD) on seed weight of chickpea was studied on 450 F3 families from reciprocal crosses between a small-seeded, early-flowering (ppd/ppd) type and a large-seeded, late flowering (PPD/PPD) cultivar. F4 progeny tests were carried out to determine the PPD genotypes of each individual F3. The effects of the PPD gene and the polygenes on mean seed weight were both significant. Genetic correlations between time to flowering and seed weight were positive and relatively high, suggesting that in certain genetic backgrounds it might be difficult to breed early-flowering cultivars without compromising seed weight.